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7.
$
We Think
This particular suggestion will need the most careful consideration since to station such a force in Hong Kong, on territory which the
by them Chinese Government regard as theirs, must be regarded as an act of
major provocation.
Visits of American naval vessels
8%
The Ministerial Committee recorded the view that the presence
of United States ships had a good effect on local confidence, could be useful if an emergency evacuation became necessary and could be expected to have some deterrent effoot on the actions of the Chinese Government.
These views are shared by the Political Department
9. These are all valid points. Nevertheless it is important that we
should require the Americans to observe the guide lines agreed with them last year for the use of facilities in the Colony by their Armed Forces. These were designed to put limits on e.g. visits by American ships so that the visible signs of American military presence in Hong Kong did not become so
blatant that the Chinese would feel bound to react strongly. The recent
decision to cancel the visit of the American carrier "Constellation" was taken
the proposed programme of in part because together with visits of ather large American vessels, would
questanticallyg havo departed from the guide lines. Those laid down that, in normal
circumstances, visits by carriers should not exceed one a month. The
programme of visits from early July to early September, a period of 9 weeks, mantkay involved the visit of four carriers (including the "Constellation").
The Governor has since been given the discretion to arrange for a visit of
the "Constellation" to be fitted in with the programme of visits by other
has been asked to avoid American naval ships but, the bunching of visits by carriers and other large
as far one American ships should be avoided if at all possible.
Powers of Detention
10. Recent raids on Communist headquarters and buildings have led to the
arrest of some 20 prominent local Communists of considerable security end
intelligence interest. To provide for their continued detontion the Governor
has been authorised to bring into force emergency regulations conferring
powers of detention.
11.
This has been necessary for two reasons. Firstly, because existing legislation provides only for the deportation of aliens and for their continued detention if deportation proves impracticable. Powers are now
required to deal with prominent local Communists who are British subjects. Secondly, the case against the aliens now in custody rests on evidence that
would be inadmiscible in a Court or that could not be exposed to the Courts
or to the deportat on and detention tribunals established under existing legislation (because of the need to protect delicate sources).
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