Secretary of State
Mr. Forster
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S. Carter
TOP SECRET
At the conclusion of a meeting of the
Defence Review Working Party this morning on other
matters, Kr. Cooper of the Ministry of Defence
reported that Mr. Stoddart, a Counsellor in the U.S.
Embassy, had asked to see him urgently early this
morning about Hong Kong. Mr. Stoddart said that
Fashington was very worried about recent developments.
Although he did not specifically ask if we had any
contingency plans for evacuation, he was obviously
probing our intentions. Ar. Cooper confined himself
to saying that we felt we could cope with the
internal security situation;
and we had of course
always accepted that Hong Kong was not defensible
against an all-out external attack by China.
2.
r. Stoddart asked specifically if we had
any intention of attempting to open talks with the
Chinese. ar. Cooper denied this. Mr. Stoddart
said that the Russians had told them that it was
impossible to talk rationally to the Chinese about
anything at present.
3.
Mr. Cooper deduced from the conversation
that our views were fairly close to those of the
United States. He thought that the conversation
gave us an opening for high level talks with the U.S.
on Hong Kong if we so wished. They might well
provide a carrier in an emergency.
Copies:
Sir A, Galsworthy
Mr. Walsh Atkins
TOP SKOR ET
(J.
Moreton)
21 July 1967.
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