CONFIDENTIAL
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In Moscow I met and talked with Mr. Nemchina and Professor
Tikhvinsky of the M.F.A. and the Ambassadors of Canada, France,
Denmark, Australia and the U.S.A.
Principal impressions
Canton
(a) Always a dingy place the town looked worse than ever
with many shop houses boarded up. I also saw food queues outside butchers' shops on each occasion I passed
through the town.
(b) Nearly all the businessmen to whom I talked (Arab,
British and New Zealand) described the disappointing
quantities of goods available in the fields in which
they were interested, ranging from textiles through
ginger to musical instruments.
Peking
(a) The M.F.A, had made a real effort to welcome my visit.
The presence of members of the Ministry at a meal in
the Chargé's flat was the first such visit since 1966.
Lo Kuei-po's offer of three different times for my visit
to him is, I think, a very rare courtesy. It was by
no means certain that he would receive mo at all.
(b) There is no doubt at all that China expects some advance
in the speed of release of confrontation prisoners in
Hong Kong, though they accept that any improvement will
have to be gradual and not dramatic, This issue 30
clearly stated for the first time directly must be
regarded as a touchstone in Sino-British relations.
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