SECRET CONFIDENTIAL
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that if he were to apply to the Director of Education for
permission to visit the school, such permission would be
granted for reasonably frequent visits consistent with his
position as owner of the premises and legal action against
The Governor has also said that in
him would be dropped.
of legal action against Wong
the the event it would be made plain to the court that if ong
t/it
were not prepared to seek the Director of Education's permission,
the authorities would still not want to ask the court to impose
a sentence of imprisonment on him on this occasion but would be
content with a fine or even a conditional discharge.
}
5. In a recent letter to the Department, our Charges d'Affaires
in Peking has warned us that if legal action against Wong were
the latter's to lead to his imprisonment, this could have serious consequences
for detained British subjects. He has considerable doubts about
the taking of any legal action against Wong because "once the
judicial process has begun I do not see how we can guarantee
that it will not end in imprisonment for Wong". He also states
that "such hope as there is of obtaining the early release of
Grey and other British subjects would, I am sure, be extinguished
if in 1969, one year and a half after the end of violent confron-
tation in Hong Kong, a Communist sympathiser was imprisoned for
an offence involving a breach of the Education Ordinance entail-
ing visits to a school, the premises of which he owns".
The situation needs.
6.
Spumon
afresh The above expressions of jews now need to be examined in
the light of Wong's departure for China on 3 May. It is not
known why Wong has gone to China, but it could be:
(a) that he was recalled for briefing on how to play his
hand; or for reprimand for having clashed with the
Hong Kong authorities (this would be in line with
recent directives from Peking to Communist cadres
2 SECRET CONFIDENTIAL