SECRET
Chinese deferred a meeting planned for 20 November until the following
day. At this meeting neither side made mention of Senior Inspector
Knight and discussion centred upon the amount of payment to be made to
peasants (devaluation was mentioned); what the Shum Chun authorities
could say about the nature of the payment when handing it to the Commune
for distribution and the timing of the removal of the wire fence. No
agreement was reached but the Chinese proposed a further meeting for
Our negotiators' impression was that during the latter
part of the meeting the Chinese were stalling and making no real attempt
to conclude agreement.
23 November.
Hong Kong Department
22 November, 1967.
SECRET