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other high-profile events next week; the Chinese are unlikely
to miss it.
6.
Mr Dinham tells me that the Governor is not keen to
accept this award and understands well the potential damage
it could cause. But he also appreciated the downside of
declining: possible offence to the US, unhelpful press stories about bowing to Chinese pressure etc. He was
therefore reluctantly persuaded that it might be better to
grasp the nettle now rather than later.
7.
The deskby 290100Z was to give Hong Kong time to set up
the award ceremony if we agreed that it should go ahead next
week. Mr Dinham said that as we were recommending to the
contrary, the reply could issue tomorrow.
Than
J C Morris
sub.freedom.MORRIS
JEB
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