21019Z
ONFIDENTIAL
ED
M FO
O DESKBY 1213OOZ PRETORIA
ELNO 53
F 111723Z MAY 93
ND TO IMMEDIATE WELLINGTON
DEDIF
CONFIDENTIAL
TOP COPY
-
TRICTLY PERSONAL FOR PUS (VISITING) FROM PS/PUS
WELLINGTON STRICTLY PERSONAL FOR SIR J COLES (VISITING)
IR PERCY CRADOCK'S MEMOIRS
You discussed this briefly with Sir R Butler at the end of .ast week. The Department and Mr Hum recommend that we should
ake the opportunity of Sir J Coles' visit to Hong Kong :16-17 May) for him to discuss the subject privately with the iovernor before we offer advice to Sir R Butler.
!. As background, Sir J Coles will wish to know that the
riteria against which we have to consider memoirs are set out in :he Radcliffe rules, as amended by a Committee under Lord Wakeham hich reported to the Prime Minister in February 1993. In brief, there are restrictions on three separate categories of information:
The revelation of anything that contravenes the requirements of national security.
·
Disclosures injurious to this country's relations with other
iations.
Information destructive of the confidential relationships on which our system of government is based. Lord Wakeham's Committee agreed that the Cabinet Secretary should focus particularly on material affecting Ministers and officials still in office.
As regards the first two categories above, the Cabinet Secretary's duty is to have the manuscript examined and to transmit any objections to the author. The author has a right of
eference to the Prime Minister but should accept the latter's decision as final. On the confidential relationships category, the Cabinet Secretary has a duty to offer views, but
esponsibility rests on the shoulders of the author to decide what he is going to say.
3. The Department and Mr Hum have now considered Sir P Cradock's nanuscript, titled QUOTE Experiences of China UNQUOTE. It is very largely a memoir in traditional format recording Sir P Cradock's experiences in China from 1962.
in China from 1962. It includes a long section on the negotiation with China of the Joint Declaration. This would be the fullest published account by an insider. But there is already much material in the public domain on this subject, particularly in the recent book by Robert Cottrell. believe that Sir P Cradock's account is accurate. We do not think there is a strong case to be made against publication on the grounds that this would be injurious to our relations With China.
4.
We
Problems arise in the final chapters of the manuscript, where Sir P Cradock brings the story up to date. He gives an account of his negotiations with the Chinese over democracy in 1989/early
CONFIDENTIAL/DED?