Cypher/Cat A
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SECRET
193
PRIORITY HONG KONG TO COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
Tel. No. 1706
SECRET
18 November, 1967
RECEIVED !!! ARCHITE
20 NOV 1967
HWA 4/1
Addressed to Commonwealth Office telegram No. 1706 of 18 November.
Repeated for information to POLAD Singapore and Washington.
189
My telegram No. 1699: Hong Kong Border.
For completeness' sake it may be useful to record that in addition to the detailed points in my telegram under refer- ence, our negotiators on 17 November made a statement setting out the principles the Hong Kong Government wished to establish in these negotiations. They were:-
(a)
That conditions in the Border Area should return to their former peaceful state as quickly as possible; and the foundations be laid for the maintenance of peace and order in future. It was emphasized that an important factor in this would be the behaviour of farmers and workers from the Chinese side who crossed into Hong Kong territory; we must ask that such people behave in a reasonable and peaceful manner and in accordance with the laws and customs of Hong Kong.
(b) That full control in the Area should be exercised by the
respective Border authorities. We said that we should continue to take whatever action was necessary from time to time to maintain peace and order on our side of the Border; and that it was entirely for us to decide what sort of physical Border controls needed to be established there. In deciding on the nature and location of the controls how- ever we would avoid as far as possible inconvenience and loss to residents of the Border Area and to farmers and others from Chinese territory who carried on production and other normal activities on our side of the Border. We would expect the Chinese authorities to ensure that whenever we improved or strengthened Border obstacles there was no interference from farmers and workers on their side.
(c) That a means of communication between responsible persons
on both sides of the Border be established.
We had no strong feelings about what precise form it should take, but thought it should be of a confidential nature.
(a) That the three policemen, who had committed no offence and
had been detained without reasons, should be released as
LAST REF.
189
SECRET
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