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appeared to be dealing with the Public Security Bureau over what should have been a purely commercial matter. Doram and one of Chong's daughters had recently visited Zhengzhou but been denied any access to Chong himself. At various points representatives of the Hong Kong company had been threatened with detention; and warned that if they did not meet the demands of the Public Security Bureau/company then they would never see Chong again. I said that commercial disputes were sometimes complicated but that the details of the matter between the companies was not my business. That should be settled in a proper legal manner, I was concerned at the close involvement of the Public Security Bureau who appeared to be acting almost as the agents of the Chinese company involved. The fact that a Hong Kong resident had been detained since August last year, and had yet to be charged with any wrong doing, in circumstances such as these was very worrying indeed. Quite apart from my concern for Mr Chong himself, urged Yang to consider the public impression that this sort of case might make if it hit the press in the USA (as it is surely likely to do against the background of the MFN debate).
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Yang said that they obviously knew nothing about these two cases but would go and investigate the circumstances and revert to us.
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(S E Bradley)
Deputy Political Adviser
18 June 1992
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CONFIDENTIAL