39
创
GR758 PRIORITY
YPHER CAT A
FM FCO 201425Z
CONFIDENTAL
LKK 184 RA. 8+/PA
23 JAN MA
33
INDCA
PA
No
49:1
CONFIDENTIAL
TO PRIORITY PEKING TELEGRAM NUMBER 28 OF 20 JANUARY
INFO HONG KONG (GOVERNOR AND BCARFE), TOKYO.
YOUR TELNO 26: UK-CHINA AIR SERVICES,
ROGERS, ACCOMPANIED BY SAMUEL SAW LIU WHO WAS ACCOMPANIED BY FIRST SECRETARY SHEMON 19 JANUARY.
2. LIU STARTED OFF BY SAYING THAT HE WAS NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE
SUBJECT AND THAT THE PURPOSE OF HIS VISIT WAS TO OBTAIN CONCRETE
IDEAS FROM US FOLLOWING THE CLINTON DAVIS-TSENG CHENG DISCUSSIONS IN LONDON, WHEN HE SAID THE FORMER HAD MADE THE STATEMENT CONTAINED
IN YOUR TEL 26.
3. ROGERS TOOK LIU THROUGH THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THE NEGOTIATIONS
IN 1973 AND THE SUBSEQUENT EVENTS, MAKING IT VERY CLEAR THAT ALL THE POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS HAD BEEN TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT BY BOTH SIDES IN ARRIVING AT THE DRAFT ASA. HE GENTLY POINTED TO THE DIFFERENCES SETWEEN THE UK/PRC POSITION AND THE JAPAN/PRC POSITION AND HOW
INAPPROPRIATE IT WAS IN HIS VIEW TO COUPLE THE TWO TOGETHER AND
EXPECT HMG TO MAKE THE SAME RESPONSE TO PRC REQUESTS AS THE JAPANESE HAD, WITH, AS HE POINTED OUT, CATASTROPHIC EFFECTS ON THEIR AIR SERVICES TO AND FROM TAIWAN FROM WHICH SITUATION THEY HAD
ONLY BEEN ABLE TO EXTRICATE THEMSELVES BY A PARTIAL RETRACTION OF
THEIR EARLIER PRONOUNCEMENTS. HE FELT THERE MUST HAVE BEEN SOME
MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN MR CLINTON DAVIS AND TSENG CHENG. MR CLINTON
DAVIS COULD NOT RECOLLECT HAVING DISCUSSED THIS TOPIC AND HAD NOT
INTENDED TO SUGGEST IN ANY WAY THAT WE MIGHT FOLLOW THE JAPANESE
PATTERN. IF IT WOULD HELP THE PRC WE WERE, AS WE HAD ALREADY INDICATED, PREPARED TO GIVE FURTHER SPECIFIC ASSURANCES: BUT IN OUR VIEW THOSE WOULD MERELY AMPLIFY THE UNDERSTANDINGS REACHED IN 1972, WHICH, TOGETHER WITH THE ASA INITIALLED IN 1973, ALREADY SUFFICIENTLY COVERED THE POLITICAL. AND OTHER ASPECTS OF OUR
CONFIDENTAL
/AIR SERVICES