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to investigate the course of the Kuro Siwo current. The Hong Kong Government have advised that this current does not enter the South
China Sea, that Hong Kong lies some 600-800 klms away from the area in question and that the ports which one would expect to be most convenient for a study of the current would appear to be in Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Hong Kong does not appear to be a necessary port of call unless the Russians have ulterior motives (Hong Kong telegram no 827 of 16 August).
(b) a visit would be misunderstood by the Chinese and they would probably invoke the late Secretary of State's assurance to the Chinese Foreign Minister in May 1976 that the British Government had no intention of tolerating the use of Hong Kong for subversive activities against the Chinese People's Republic. Criticism of the use of Hong Kong by Soviet shipping also continues from time to time in Hong Kong's left-wing press.
(c) to allow the visit would establish a precedent for regular visits by Soviet research vessels and our policy of preventing Soviet penetration of Hong Kong would thus be under-
mined.
Any embarrassment which may be caused to the Royal Society by our refusal of the Soviet request will have to be disregarded (see the first sentence of paragraph 5 of the 1974 circular). In fact, this year's correspondence and discussions with the Society's officers should make it less difficult for them to handle any Soviet approach about the "Dimitriy Mendeleev".
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5. I recommend that the Soviet request be refused and I submit a draft Note accordingly to the Soviet Embassy. At the Hong Kong Government's suggestion this would not be despatched until much nearer the date proposed for the "Dimitriy Mendeleev"'s visit so as to lessen the time available to the Soviet authorities to bring pressure to bear on HMG, no doubt through the Royal Society, to reverse the decision. I think that it would be sufficient to despatch the Note in mid-October and, if you agree, the department
/will
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