SECRET
If action under the existing law (including provisions for suspension under Cap. 268) achieved no improvement, the object of bringing in the Emergency Regulations would be immediate closure. This step would be justified by the defiance of the press rather than any failures in court.
6. Chinese Unofficial Members of Council, moreover, clearly wish these regulations to be made only as a last resort, preferring action in the courts under the existing law or even the arrest and detention of publishers first. It would be much more difficult to act selectively under such regulations and we should be virtually committed to the closure of all Communist papers from the start. It may come to this but we feel that the proposals in paragraph 7 of my telegram No.1112 should be tried first. This should provide a fair warning to the papers concerned and to Peking and justification to outside opinion for stronger measures later if they had to be taken.
(Passed as requested, and as advance copies to F. E. Dept.
Foreign Office, Mr. Glover News Dept. C.0. and Private
Office for Commonwealth Secretary)
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