Mr. E.R. Edmonds
I think you should see the draft reply to Mr. Mitchell, from which I have deleted the reference to the question of a reassuring statement being under active consideration here. If we say this now and no statement is made within the next, say, two or three months, the China Association and others concerned may draw the wrong conclusions and embarrassing questions might be asked in Parliament and elsewhere.
The Secretary of State may be interested to know the present Foreign Office attitude towards the arrangements for the further consideration of the problem of the future of Hong Kong. Mr. Kitson of the Foreign Office told me last night that he was preparing a draft letter for Mr. Bevin to send to the Secretary of State, taking the line
1.
that the problem should go straight to the Cabinet and not via the Far Eastern (Official) Committee:
2. that its submission to the Cabinet should
not be made
(a)
until we have some clearer
indication of the United States'
policy towards China, and
(b)
while China is grappling with
an economic crisis.
From our point of view, I don't think that,
on the whole, there would be any particular advantage in pressing for the matter to be further considered by the Far Eastern (Official) Committee before
it is submitted to Ministers.
I would, therefore,
be inclined to agree with Foreign Office view on 1. above. On the second question, the Secretary of State suggested in his letter to Mr. Bevin of the 4th February that it could be assumed, for the purpose of this question, that
/General Marshall's