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Mr. Carter
A reply is required to the attached letter from Mr. Newens, MP. The letter is addressed to Mr. Whitlock.
2.
A copy of the Parliamentary Question to which Mr. Newens refers in his first paragraph, is attached. It will be noted that the Question did not ask for any details of the offences of which the children had been convicted. This information is however given in Hong Kong telegram no. 73 (copy attached) and it is quite clear that the five boys who still remain in prison are hard-core Communists and were all guilty of bomb offences. It is difficult to see how else they could have been dealt with than by long terms of imprisonment.
3.
The penultimate paragraph of Mr. Newens' letter is a matter which concerns the Far Eastern Department rather than ourselves. The question of including the various British nationals detained in China (other than Mr. Grey) in any "deal" with the Chinese which might involve the premature release of convicted Communist prisoners in Hong Kong, was considered in detail in a recent Far Eastern Department Submission to the Minister (copy attached). Paragraph 13 of that Submission goes into the matter 38 in some detail. It recommends strongly that in
undertaking any negotiations with the Chinese for the release of Mr. Grey, we should not attempt to make the exercise a package deal involving the cases of other detained British subjects.
FEC 130/1/938
...
Mr. Newens asks for a meeting with the Minister to discuss the issues involved in his letter. I have discussed this matter with
4.
Mr. Wilson of Far Eastern Department and we both agree that it would probably be advantageous if the Minister would agree to see Mr. Newens. The latter is one of the Members of Parliament who have between them put down more than twenty Parliamentary Questions on the subject of detainees, convicted Communist prisoners, and emergency regulations in Hong Kong, since mid-December. If Mr. Newens were given an opportunity of getting the matter off his chest, the Minister might be able to persuade him that everything possible is being done to help both Mr. Grey and the other British detainees in Hong Kong and to point out that we have also a duty to ensure that Hong Kong's interests in this matter are not overlooked. Such an explanation by the Minister might serve to persuade Mr. Newens (and others) to abandon their campaign of Parliamentary Questions.
5.
I attach a draft reply to Mr. Newens for signature by Lord Shepherd. The ante-penultimate paragraph of the draft has been agreed with Mr. Wilson of Far Eastern Department.
11 February 1969
(A.. Gaminara) Hong Kong Department
(OVER)
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