TNAG-0022-FCO40-58-Facilities-for-US-Forces-1968 — Page 8

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SECRET

Mr. James Murray

RECEIVED IN

ARCHIVES No.31

14 AUG 1968

FD101,

United States Ships' Visits to Hong Kong

257

Admiral Kirm, the United States Naval Attache, called on Mr., Foley today to discuss the visits of United States'ships to Hong Kong.

2. Mr. Foley reassured Admiral Kirn that there was no question of our re-negotiating the guide-lines for ships' visits. We simply wanted to talk in Hong Kong about their application. We were con- cerned about the political implications both in Peking and Hong Kong or the viats but we had no wish to upset arrangements already made and we fully understood the requirements of the ships (both operational and for leave purposes). We wanted to talk about:-

i) the phasing of visits by major ships;

ii)

the phasing or visits by nuclear and other potentially controversial vessels; and:

iii) the avoidance of bunching of ships vists,

so that as far as possible we avoided provoking the Chinese. If there were any problems which could not be solved in Hong Kong, Mr. Foley assured Admiral Kirn that these would be referred back to London.

3. Admiral Kirn asked us to avoid last-minute cancellations as these had a bad effect on the operational, maintenance and replenishment cycles of the ships. They also had a bad effect on the morale or the crews.

Па

(D. B. Merry) & August, 1968.

James Tay

SECRET

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