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clearly defined as "Chinese aggression".
<
It
is much less likely that a deterjent of this
a
sort could put an end to the incitment to sub-
version in Hong Kong, since the Chinese would
calculate, quite correctly, that there is no
point at which such subversion can be con-
sidered as the justification
retaliation against China.
nuclear
9. Although we believe that the Americans
want us to stay in Hong Kong for the moment,
we think it unlikely that they would be
prepared to give anything approaching a public
nuclear guarantee for Hong Kong. A guarantee
of this sort for a British colony in Asia would
be unacceptable for many reasons. There might however be advantage in trying to make the
Chinese believe that the Americans are involved
in or committed to the defence of Hong Kong.
The continued presence of American ships in
Hong Kong is helpful in this connexion and
:
other methods of doing so should also be
considered.
1.
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