TNAG-0022-FCO40-58-Facilities-for-US-Forces-1968 — Page 28

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SECRET

PLATTE 5.

In Peking telegram No. 647 Sir D. Hopson gave his views as

225) follows:

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(a)

(b)

(0)

would greatly prefer the visits of large or nuclear ships to

be discontinued altogether for the time being. He thought that

the possible level of ships' vizite under the new arrangerants

contemplated (paragraph 3 above) might not be substantially

lower than at present, and that it was in any case too high.

He proposed that, if the programe must be continued, visita of

large or nuclear ships should be reduced to one a north.

He pointed out that if the programme for the visits of nuclear

ships (C.0. telegram No. 1252) was followed, it might result in

six visits a year which would be two more than took place in 1966

or 1967. He recommended that the existing level should not

exceeded.

He recommended that we inform the Americans that we should pre-

fer no more visits to be made by the "Enterprise" for the time

being.

6. In Hong Kong telegram No. 883 the Governor replied to Sir D.

Hopson setting out his views at length. His main points were i

(a) The Americans had scrupulously adhered to the guidelines; under

them it was possible for each ship in the Seventh Fleet to pay one

visit to Hong Kong in the course of an operational tour in the area.

Disruption of the schedule would have a bade effect on the morale of

American servicemen and would adversely affect our relations with

the United States. Long gaps between the visits of major units

would also cause considerabla administrative difficulty.

(b) He agreed that the "Enterprise" was a special caso and in future

visits would require most careful thought. Visits were not likely

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