97499 $1.3.
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential. Restricted. Unclassified.
DRAFT
To:-
CONFIDENTIAL
Type 1 +
From
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
CHINA'S THIRD PROTEST ABOUT THE USE OF HONG KONG
BY U.S. NAVAL VESSELS
Problem
Flags
64
and
9162
Flag 'D'
1200 1 60/0/71
Flag
Flag 'C'
Ji/il
What action we should take in response
to the Note handed to H.M.Chargé d'Affaires in Peking
on 21 March, protesting against the use of Hong Kong
by U.S. naval vessels and calling upon H.M.G. to stop
providing Hong Kong to the U.S. as "a base of
operation for its war of aggression against Vietnam"
(Feking telegram No. 311 of 21 March). In his
telegram No. 312, hir. Hopson recommends that, after a
decent interval, we should reply on the lines of our
Note No.8 of 16 February, 1966, which replied to the
Chinese second Note of protest on this matter.
Recommendations
2.
I recommend that we should accept
Mr. Hopson's advice about the nature of our reply but
that we should deliver it as soon as convenient.
submit a draft telegram, with which the C.C. agree.
Argument
3.
Mr. Hopson reports that the delivery of
the Note had every appearance of a routine operation
being done for the record. The Note of February, 1966
was delivered by a Vice-Minister whereas on this
occasion it was handed over by a relatively junior
official, the Vice-Director of the West European
Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The
Note itself is in weaker terms than the earlier
protests of 1 September, 1965 and 1 February, 1966.
/It
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CONFIDENTIAL
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