8.
Apart from this the Governor makes the
Spenne
following/points:-
(a) He believes that the USS "Enterprise"
forms a special case and that any future visit
will need cost careful thought.
However she is
not likely to visit Hong Kong until the middle
of 1969 at the earliest and the Governor believes
M.
that she can be left out of calculations.
(b) Other large ships can be classified
loosely as follows:-
1.
"particularly controversial" ships, i.e.
those which are nuclear powered.
ii.
"potentially controversial" ships, i.e.
strike carriers.
111. other large ships; the Governor believes
that their significance has been over estimated
and that the local communists in Hong Kong only
make an issue of their visit if there has been
prior press interest regarding their activities
in Vietnam waters.
The Governor points out that the communists do
not distinguish between visiting vessels of
varying sizes, nor do they make an issue of one
type rather than another except the nuclear
powered vessels:
On the basis of the above the Governor argues
that the existance of a gap between visits of
major units is has no significance in Chinese
eyes and recommends that such a gap is unnecessary
although he concedes that the overlapping in Hong
Kong of large ships should continue to be avoided.
(c) The Governor argues that nuclear powered
vessels should be spaced at a rate of not more
/than
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