TNAG-0022-FCO40-58-Facilities-for-US-Forces-1968 — Page 123

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(It is for consideration whether we

should tell the Americans that we

should prefer it if no further visits

were paid to Hong Kong by the

for the time being

Enterprise

We should value your

views on this point).

(a) Emphasise the desirability of not

allowing the dates of ships' visits to

be known earlier in advance than is

absolutely necessary.

If the dates do

become public well in advance this is

an invitation to the Chinese to make a

makes it difficult for us to

fuss and puts us in a difficult

reach

a decision.

position if for any reason postponement

is considered desirable.

3. In their recent protest note the Chinese

Government introduced the new allegation that

Hong Kong serves the United States as a

"logistics centre for aggression against

i

Vietnam". We are wondering whether this

allegation is related to any United States

activity in Hong Kong which could be regarded as

an infringement of guide line F which forbids

the placing of military contracts.

If so, then

Grateful to

learn whether you consider that sufficient

grounds exist for this to be included in

paragraph 2 above as a point to be put to the

Americans.

4. We consider that all the above points could

Current

be covered by amendments to the guide lines and

be the interpretative notes and we should be

grateful for your drafting suggestions.