c. Mr. Godden
Reference..
100
Mr. Carter
I am a little disturbed about the Peking
telegrams 295-299 below.
I realise that our colleagues in Peking are having a rough time and telegram 299 talks about "already lowered staff morale", but I think we must bear in mind that whereas we only have a small number of people in Peking, we are responsible for several millions in Hong Kong. It is much more important that their morale should not be lowered than the morale of our people in Peking should be further lowered.
I am also disturbed about the proposals in these telegrams, and particularly that in 298, that we should take a more lenient line in the treatment of scholars and children at present awaiting sentence and that the plaintiffs in the libel action against Wen Hui Pao should not claim damages.
The recent negotiations on the border confirm our original suspicion that these were only under- taken to suit the Communists. I think they have scored a major propaganda victory in having been able to announce publicly that we have had to pay compensation" to the landholders for the loss of crops and that we have opened up the Man Kam To Bridge and have agreed to remove the barbed wire. Prima facie we should not have done any of these things because Inspector Knight was kidnapped and forced across the Bridge and the other two policemen crossed the border by mistake. None of the policemen had committed any serious offence on Chinese territory, whereas the reasons for closing the Bridge were fully justified by the behaviour of the Chinese on our side of the border.
I do not think that we shall get anywhere with the Chinese by taking a soft line in Hong Kong.
Perhaps we ought to have another meeting of the Under Secretaries Committee to discuss this and any other outstanding matters on Hong Kong.
JIPH.
(H.P. Hall)
4 December, 1967