CONFIDENTIAL
to consider any relaxation.
5. It is difficult to justify our restrictions on oviet
activities in Hong Kong in any terms that the kussians
could not publicly ridicule. The Minister may therefore
prefer to withold explanations and, if the subject is
raised by the Russians, to reply that this is a question
for the Hong Kong Government. If the Russians press the
matter, the Minister might state that Hong Kong is self-
evidently a special case and thereafter resist attempts
to draw him into further comment.
A
6. s to (b), the Russian Embassy in London recently
requested permission for the Loviet research vessel, the
'Dimitry Mendeleev', to visit Hong Kong from 31 October
3 November. In their note the Russians stated that the
boat was in the area on an international project to study
the KUNO SIWO current and, as on previous occasions (the
most recent was in June last year), the Soviet authorities
appeared to attempt to gain support for their request by
parallel approaches to the Royal Society.
7. However it was considered that proposed visit was
almost certainly no more than a Loviet ploy to gain entry
into Hong Kong. (The latter is not a necessary port of
call as the course of the Kuro Diwo current lies, at its
nearest, some 600-800 miles distant from Hong Kong.) It
was thought that the Chinese would misunderstand the visit
and would probably invoke the late Secretary of tate's
assurance (see paragraph 3 above), while to grant
admission to the boat would establish a precedent for
regular visits by Soviet research vessels and would
/undermine
CONETDENITAT.