TNAG-0027-FCO40-63-Relations-with-China-1968 — Page 171

CONFIDENTIAL

5.

Depending on what action the Chinese do take after the

expiry of the ultimatum I think that the time has come when

firm action must be taken against N.C.N.A. Quite apart from the holding of Mr. Grey under house arrest and anything further

which may be done to him, he has been unable to function as

Reuters correspondent for the last month. We would therefore be justified in taking reciprocal action against N.C.N.A. in

London. It could be argued action in Hong Kong would be more

appropriate as the N.C.N.A. are more heavily represented there. Five staff members have in fact been arrested for illegal

assembly and incitement one is in prison for two years and another appears in court today although the full trial is not

likely to take place until September. In view of the

possibility of violent Chinese reaction against further measures in Hong Kong, the Commonwealth Office strongly favour

action here and we agree.

In

6. The difficulty about stopping N.C.N.A. functioning is that we cannot prevent the circulation of their bulletin unless proceedings are instituted for, for example, criminal libel.

It is doubtful whether the Home Office would institute such

proceedings or whether a prosecution would be successful.

any case the process would be lengthy. We could, however, inform the Office of the Chinese Chargé d'Affaires by Note that

N.C.N.A. must cease to function. At the same time the Home

Office could instruct the police to make N.C.N.A. report to

them, for example, daily. If either instruction were ignored

we could, with Home Office agreement, expel all expatriate

/members

OCHFIDENTIAT