CO537-4998 — Page 132

94001/28/49

cos 96/14/1/9

The Church House,

Great Smith Street,

London, S.W.1.

24′ February, 1949.

25

SECRET

bear waterfield, ispare

Please refer to your letter of the 14th January about the defence of Hong Kong.

2. I enclose a copy of the Governor of Hong Kong's telegram 113, in which the view is expressed that no wiring of the frontier should be done, even under the pretext of the Customs Agreement, until a threat appears imminent.

3. We have also just received a copy of the Minutes of the B.D.C.C.(F.E.) 16th Meeting, dated 28th January, in which the Committee, among other conclusions, "took note that it was probable that major incidents on the frontier could be avoided in the near future, but that it was important not to provoke them by any precipitate action to close the frontier."

44 These views are at variance with the

conclusion of the Chiefs of Staff stated in paragraph 3(a) of your letter under reference,

LIEUTENANT COLONEL P.R.M. WATERFIELD, M.B.E.,

CABINET OFFICE.

/and

}