WHITEHALL 5422
Ext. 23
Jear Bunny
Вниму,
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Copy No./of 3 copies
89)
CABINET OFFICE
LONDON S.W.1
30th November, 1967.
Hong Kong
As requested by you in our telephone conversation this morning I am
returning to you the revised draft of Sections A to E enclosed in your
letter HWB4/2 of 17th November to me.
The only general points which occur to me are the following:- (a) The advantages and disadvantages set out in Section B might be
brought out more clearly if they were listed separately.
This particularly applies on the military front, and if you
preserve the present form of the Section I suggest that you
might consider putting the military passage rather later.
As it is, it gives a somewhat confusing impression; (b) The passage on the Cultural Revolution in paragraphs 6 and 7
of Section D seem to my not very expert eye to be rather dated.
No doubt you will be discussing this with James Murray and
John Dens on;
(c) In paragraph 9 of Section E it might be worth mentioning that
we have always got hopelessly tied up in the past when we have
tried to work out means of formally involving the Americans
in the defence of Hong Kong. The purpose of putting this in
would be simply to head off any suggestion that we should once
more involve ourselves in the time-consuming and fruitless
exercises that went on in 1957 and 1958, to the best of my
recollection.
Youy
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W. S. Carter, Esq., CVO, Hong Kong Department,
Independent Territories Division, Commonwealth Office.
(N. C. C. TRENCH
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