c.c.
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by the wider public in the U.S. To harp on it could do the Hong Kong image no good.
3.
Brown said that in view of these considerations A.C.A. were wondering among themselves if there were ways in which the situation might possibly be de-fused. They wondered whether it would not be possible to shut the American students up and obviate the need to refuse further visa renewals if,
the Consul General were to invite the offending students in for tea and a lecture about the facts of life in Hong Kong, including a warning about local visa practice;
(a)
or
(b) the Vice Chancellors of the two Universities
were to do the same.
There was of course the risk that some of the students would go straight out and tell the press that they were being sub- jected to "bourgeois dictatorial pressures"; but having re- ceived due warning they would at least be in a much weaker position to mobilize opinion in the U.S. on their behalf, were visa renewals to be refused thereafter..
4. Brown emphasised that this conversation was primarily a mind-clearing operation. I said that beyond pointing out the obvious difficulties that were posed for the Hong Kong Governmen by the behavious of these students I could not comment substan- tively. I undertook however to put to you on a very informal basis the considerations in paragraph 2 and suggestions in paragraph 3 above.
Hong Kong Department,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
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(J. D. I. Boyd)