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he will try, in view of the present
situation of our Mission in Peking,
to hold off for as long as possible
from action against the C.P.G.-owned newspapers themselves, although he
considers it is going to be very
difficult to avoid eventual action
against them. The present position
on the Press is summarised in Hong Kong telegram No.1328 (copy attached);
(b) the strengthening of powers to deal with
incidents. The Governor has proposed
the introduction of emergency legislation.
carrying the death penalty for possession
of bombs, grenades and other explosives.
He has asked for our views on this and
we are considering what advice to tender
to Ministers.
5. We should endorse the recommendation that we
should continue to support China's membership of the
United Nations. To do otherwise is not going to
help us in Hong Kong.
6.
Paragraph 7(iv) of the paper and the second
annex deal with Hong Kong. We accept this analysis
वह of the problem with Hong Kong - namely, that there
is no prospect of our being able to negotiate our
withdrawal from Hong Kong with the present Chinese
Government but that we must be ready to take advantage
of any future favourable opportunity to negotiate the
return of Hong Kong to China. This is in line with
€
the Interim Report of the Defence Review Working Party submitted to 0.P.D. in July (OPDO (DR) (67)48)
and is, we feel quite sure, in line with the conclusions
to which we are working in the long-term study on the
future of Hong Kong which is now in preparation.
Commonwealth Office,
4th September, 1967.
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