CONFIDENTIAL
3
1809
put forward in his telegram No. 1063 (Personal for
Sir A. Galsworthy and not repeated to Peking) and now set out
again in greater detail in Hong Kong telegram No. 2015 of
(834) 834 23 September that considerations of security must be overriding.
I am less impressed by his arguments against the risks of being
seen to use detainees as political pawns. We have in fact
very few pawns in our game of chess with the Chinese and it is
perhaps no bad thing for the Chinese to have the impression
that we would be prepared to use detainees as a bargaining
weapon. I doubt however that this latter point is worth
pursuing with the Governor.
6.
se is
The present state of our dealings with the chinese
analysied fairly fully in a separate submission about
Communist education in Hong Kong. But in brief, things are
going fairly well. Conditions in regard to the grant of exit
visas seem to have reverted to exactly those pertaining before
the Cultural Revolution. In Hong Kong the indications are
that we should get through the troublesome period of the
October celebrations without serious difficulties. In these
circumstances the Governor seems bound to maintain his position
that the security risks of releasing well-known trouble-makers
from detention are out of all proportion to any political
dividends in Sino-British relations which their release might
bring. I see little point, therefore, in attempting to
press him further on this matter for the time being. After the
October anniversary celebrations are over, we might ask him to
/review
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.