Mr. Wilson
Mr. Murray
PA, on file AG 5/11.
Reference..........
2.8.5
No. Gangman an
Mr. Anthony Grey of Reuters
じぶ
Copy to:
Mr. Wilford Hong Kong Dept Mr. Godden
RECEIVED IN
REGISTRY No.51 - 5 NOV 1969
HKK 1/12
Anthony Grey was interviewed last night on ITN for half an hour starting at 9.30.
2.
Mr. Grey came over very well indeed. He gave an impression of great balance and maturity. His account of his experiences in Peking was straightforward and unhysterical.
3. The following two points are worth recording, particularly in case we have to deal with a complaint from the Chinese Mission about this programme.
(a) Kr. Grey's remarks contained nothing
which could be construed as anti- Chinese. He said that the ordinary Chinese were like the ordinary British. They wanted better food, better surroundings and a better life. He had no feelings of bitterness against
them. Asked about Mao he said that he had been deeply impressed by popular adulation of Mao which he had seen on May Day, 1967. He had taken this devotion to be genuine and felt that the Chinese really regarded Mao as a deity. There was nothing snide in the way he said this.
(b) Mr. Grey trod very carefully on the
subject of Sino/British relations and Hong Kong. Asked whether he felt resentment against those who had been responsible for handling his case he
said
(1)
that from time to time during his detention he had felt resentful against various people including HMG, Reuters and even members of the public who had sent him well-meaning letters and
(ii) he had sometimes felt like a
pawn in a game between two faceless governments. However he described the question of his connexion with events in Hong Kong as "a very complex ques tion", declined to be
drawn further and made it clear that he thought it pointless
to indulge in remonstrandes recominations. now. He was simply glad to be home.
T
Вид
риз
T Royal
31 October, 1969