CONFIDENTIAL
further in respect of the release of other prisoners in Hong Kong in exchange for an exit permit for Grey.
5. Finally, assuming that we get Grey safely out and that all the news workers have also been released, are we likely to face a campaign in which the Chinese will try to trade other British subjects held in China against the remaining Hong Kong prisoners? Are we prepared to resist such a campaign as I am sure we should? In this connexion have we got the statistics which would show us the speed of the rundown in the numbers of such confrontation prisoners held in Hong Kong?
6. Finally, one further thought occurs to me, it could be that the Chinese will take advantage of the 20th Anniversary Celebrations of the founding of the Chinese Pooples Republic on 1 October to get rid of Grey as gracefully as possible. I think I have seen somewhere that the penultimate news worker prisoner will get out before 1 October, whereas the last one will not emerge before 3 October. Would it be a good idea to follow up what Lord Shepherd said to the Governor on his visit about the prisoners and encourage Sir D. Trench to get rid of the last man on the eve of 1 October as a friendly gesture? F.C.0. telegram No. 444 to Hong Kong of 4 July encouraged the Governor in the sense of making a premature release if it could be regarded as a gesture of accommodation rather than an act of weakness. To release one man three days prematurely could hardly be seen as an act of much weakness.
c.c. 8ir S. Tomlinson
Mr. Godden
√ Hong Kong Department
(K.M. Wilford)
15 august. 1969
CONFIDENTIAL