TNAG-0023-FCO40-59-Facilities-for-US-Forces-1968 — Page 13

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CONFIDENTIAL

54

BRITISH EMBASSY,

WASHINGTON D.C.

7 October 1968

Dear Janes,

A battle

#1

По

8 Oct.

Ir Bogel /

1264

Shortly after sending you my letter of 4 October about U.S. Naval visits to Hong Kong I saw Paul Kreisberg at the State Department and at the end of our conversation on other subjects he brought up the question of Naval visits. He told me that the Americans were very anxious to get away from what he called the numbers game". Rather than bargain with us for 4, 6 or 9 visits by nuclear-powered vessels could we not agree on general principles the effect of which might be to produce as many as a total of 9 visits in a year.

As I understood him he said that this had al- ready been brought up by the American Consul General in Hong Kong in his conversations with the Political Adviser. I said that we had not seen Hong Kong's report on the latest talks there although it had been promised to us by bag. In the meantime I knew that we had made several concessions in the talks and I thought that if agreement had been reached on the basis of 6 visits it was foolish now for the Americans to be pressing for something more. It was much better to wait and see what the situation was like next year.

2.

Kreisberg said that he agreed that they should not look like Oliver Twist, always asking for more, and he had taken much the same line with the Pentagon when they approached him. However he felt bound at least to pass on to us the strongly held views of the Pentagon. I undertook to see that you were aware of these.

204

Yours was,

Michael Wilfor

(K.M. Wilford)

James Murray, Esq., C.M.G.,

Far Eastern Department

Foreign Office.

C.C.

A.F. Maddocks, Esq., Hong Kong

Rear Admiral L.E.S.H. Le Bailly, 0.B.E.,BNS, Washington

CONFIDENTIAL