W(B)L. 51-74 33
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry HB 3/2
DRAFT
LETTER
Type 1 +
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
To:-
From
Confidential. Restricted.
His Excellency
Sir David Trench,
KCMG., MC.,
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
HONG KONG.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
In discussions with you here in September
and since then, we have had some exchanges on
the question of an amnesty for communist
prisoners as a possible gesture towards China
which might help to encourage a return to more
normal relations. As you know, we have not
taken action on these lines because of doubts
we have felt about the timing of such a step,
its effect on public opinion in Hong Kong and
its value in influencing the attitude of the
C.P.G. For our part we have suggested that it
might be advisable to wait for the CPG to
indicate what kind of face saving gesture t
would require of us (our Tel. No. 2579 of
18 December refers).
In these exchanges you mentioned
They
(paragraph 3 of your Tel. No. 1501 of 7 October)
that an amnesty would be legally possible here
in the case of convicted prisoners by virtue
of the Royal Prerogative of Parliament" and you
commented that "the obvious objection to this is
that it is in a sense interfering with the rule
of law (and the decision of the Courts) for
short term political advantage."
Admittedly to use the power of free pardon
to release communist wrong doers whose systematic
acts of violence are so fresh in the minds of
the public might well produce a strong sense of
shock, even outrage, in public opinion in
/ Hong Kong.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.