Mr. Moreton
Plagi
2.
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CONFIDENTIAL
1. Carter
Mr. Anthony Grey of Reuters
I
The Secretary of State has agreed to see Kr. Gerald Long,
General Manager of Reuters, at 4.51 p.m. on 6 November.
attach talking points.
Er. Long wrote to the Secretary of State on 23 July
asking that consideration be given to an act of clemency under
which Chinese newspaper workers imprisoned in Rong Kong would
be released, in the hope that this would secure the release
of Hr. Grey, the Reuters correspondent who has been under house
arrest in Peking since July 1967. The Secretary of State sent
an interim reply promising to go into the matter with the
Commonwealth Secretary, but underlining that Mr. Long's request
raised far-reaching and delicate questions involving the
maintenance of our authority in the Colony. Since then the
Private Secretary, Far Eastern Department and News Department
have kept Mr. Long regularly in touch with developments.
Head of Far Eastern Department saw Mr. Long on 17 October and
gave him a fairly detailed account (omitting names) of the
covert probe of Chinese intentions recently conducted in Hong
Kong.
Reuters are therefore aware of general developments;
It is important that we have their full co-operation in the
delicate stages in the handling of the Grey case which may
The
lie ahead.
Argument
CONFIDENTIAL