inimical?
?
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6. Ministers have ruled that wherever possible OID Background Briefs should appear with an attribution to the Foreign Office and a disclaimer - see sample attached. Such documents are then made available to certain libraries thus furthering the aim of making more material available to the public. Those who have in the past expressed an interest in a particular subject are placed on a list in OID and receive copies of Background Briefs direct; they have been told that OID would be prepared to arrange for them to be briefed orally if there are any further details they require. There is however no distribution of unattributable material in the UK. This means that at present"China Record"is not going to those on the attached list.
ARGUMENT
7. Should OID be concerning itself with China and if so should it seek to hide this by non attribution?
8. China's policies at present cause little concern to the British Government and internal and external developments are not hostile to our interests. At the same time, British interests "East of Suez" have declined. As against this China remains a controlled country;' information on it remains limited and there is considerable need to analyse what is available. Such analyses are greatly appreciated. China together with Japan and Korea constitute an area of very considerable continuing interest to the whole western world, the 900 million people in China cannot be ignored and Britain has special responsibilities for Hong Kong. Further it is possible that there could be changes in China in the future which would be antihetical to Britain's interests.
9. I believe that there is a continuing need for OID to produce material on China. The nature of this however requires further study. "China Record" has tended over the months to be concerned with detailed aspects of China's internal developments and has not dealt with the broader problems. "China Record" has however been supplemented by individual Background Briefs one on China's Foreign Policy is at clearance stage. Background papers are also being produced on the basis of JIC/OEIC Research Assessments.
10. OID material on China in its present form, then, is not entirely satisfactory. It is for consideration and to whether "China Record" should cease to be issued on a regular basis and whether it should be replaced by individual papers on specific issues. As to attribution it remains an open question as to whether the Chinese would actively resent this (both Peking and Hong Kong have simply suggested that attribution could be inhibiting). Ministers are however anxious that as much as possible of OID's material should go out with attribution. would incidentally enable it to be sent to those in Britain who formerly received it.
This
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