10 August 1993
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CONFIDENTIAL
HKB 0104
Sir Robin Butler GCB CVO Cabinet Office
Lear Robin,
REC!
YSTRY
1973
REGISTRY
PA
Action Taken
DOCH
PS/PUS
Mr Hum
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWIA 2AH
Mr Morris, Hong Kong Dept
In
Ricketts,
e
༢
بیاریم
You wrote on 2 August to David Gillmore (who has now gone on leave) agreeing that I should meet Sir Percy Cradock and seek to persuade him to accept further amendments to two chapters of his proposed book. As you will have seen from Cradock's letter to me of 7 August, which he copied to you, that further meeting has now taken place.
At the meeting we went through the text in some detail. I identified over 30 points on which I sought amendments, either because we believed they could make more difficult our continuing task of negotiation with China or on grounds of fact. Our discussion was not easy, but Percy Cradock has now accepted the great majority of these changes. As for the rest, he argues in his letter, as you will see, that there are bound to be differing interpretations of events and that he cannot totally submerge his own point of view.
David Gillmore told me before he went on leave that he was entirely content for me, in his absence, to let you have this department's further views in the light of the meeting with Percy Cradock.
The latest text of his two chapters, enclosed with his letter of 7 August, is from our point of view a substantial improvement on the first version. We do not believe that its description of past confidential negotiations with the Chinese will impair our ability to conduct confidential negotiations with them in the future. All the earlier revelations of delicate points have been removed.
CONFIDENTIAL
19/8