TNAG-0027-FCO40-63-Relations-with-China-1968 — Page 149

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including Mrs. Mao and Ch'en Po-ta. He did not wish to

underestimate Chou En-lai's toughness, but he thought that

if they did really gain the upper hand and hold it, this

would result in more sensible policies in Peking. He shared

our view that Chou Ea-lai seened at the moment to be exerting

a greater influence in Peking than he had done some weeks

ago . But he also said that he would not be surprised if,

after a short pause over the next few weeks, there would be

another resurgence of Red Guard extremiss

9. Sir P. Reilly had heard that Monsieur Paye might

delaying his return to Peking and I therefore asked Monsieur

Paye what his plans were. He said that he would be flying

back next Monday, 25 September and arriving in Paking on the

Tuesday. He said that he would very much like to see Sir

Patrick again before he left and I asked the Embassy to arrange

this if at all possible for today. Monsieur Paye also said

that he would be happy to convey any messages or packages to

Mr. Hopson. I said that we were now managing to get confi-

dential material to him by various means and I did not think

we had anything particular to send at the moment. As for a

message,

I said that I would be grateful if he would assure

Mr. Hopson that, in deciding what actions we should take in

maintaining our authority in Hong Kong or in dealing with the

Chinese here in London, we would have uppermost in our winds

any possible consequences to our staff in Peking. I also

asked him to give my personal greetings to Mr. Hopson and

/to

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