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Comme 5
to be in Corporalt cite Si Robin Buttci's reply, by 1 December please.
R
Sir Robin Butler GCB CVO
Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall
London SW1A 2AS
CC R/PMS
сс
303 Richmond Road
Twickenham
Middlesex TW1 2NP
24/4/53
In tuum won't exc.
JJJJJacaw Becker
APE/PMS
30/1193
As I warned you in my letter of 28 September, I have now made the
final revision of the text of 'Experiences of China' in order to bring
it as up to date as I can before publication next spring.
With two very small exceptions, the changes are confined to the
penultimate chapter. In view of the latest developments, I found it
impossible to leave this chapter untouched, despite strong temptations to do so: that would have given too optimistic and unreal
an impression. On the other hand, since no final decisions have yet
been taken on our side, I have had to write of the likely effects of
unilateral action in a conditional way, saying that if we do this or
that certain consequences will follow.
This section is followed by one on the longer term outlook for
Hong Kong, which you will find bears a close resemblance to the original text. All new writing is sidelined. For convenience, I
provide the text of the whole chapter, though only the later pages
and the title are changed.
Several of the new passages are critical of what may be
government policy. I am afraid that is inevitable: the situation has
worsened and of the two evils now facing us we seem bent on chooosing
the larger. On the other hand, I do not see that criticism can weaken
the government's negotiating position, as you feared in the summer:
the negotiations seem to be at an end. If, however, I am wrong in that
and the talks are somehow revived, my criticisms will be related to a
hypothetical rather than an actual policy. In any event, criticism in
what is now a public debate will not, I hope, be regarded as
unacceptable in itself.
The two changes outside Chapter 24 occur in the Preface and in
537