TNAG-0109-FCO40-145-Detainees-and-prisoners-following-19671968-disturbances-1968 — Page 132

1

CONFIDENTIAL

Argument

3, At the end of Mr. Long's discussion with the Head of

Far Eastern Department on 17 October, Mr. Long said that he

accepted that the correct course, for the present, was to wait

now for the release of Hsueh P'ing, the New China News Agency

correspondent imprisoned in Hong Kong. Hsueh will be released

on 16 November. Like ourselves, Mr. Long is prepared to wait

in the hope that the release of Heueh will result in the release

of Mr. Grey; but, also like ourselves, Mr. Long is concerned

about the situation with which we shall be confronted if the

release of Hsueh does not in the event secure the release of Grey.

4. It might be better if the Secretary of State did not take

the initiative with Mr. Long in raising the matter of an amnesty

in Hong Kong. Our discussions with the Governor on 25 October

underlined the difficulties. There was general agreement that

an amnesty for any considerable number of convicted prisoners was

quite out of the question. Mr. Long may also press the

Secretary of State to consider at least the release of Lo Yu-ho,

the only other N.C.N.A. correspondent imprisoned in Hong Kong.

While we have at no stage encouraged Reuters to believe that we

would necessarily be ready to make this concession, it is

nevertheless something which has been canvassed in the Press,

notably in the "Sunday Times" of 20 October. Mr. Long is

therefore likely to put it as a possibility to the Secretary

of State and we should be ready for this eventuality.

if Grey is not released by December we may well have to consider

/ the desirability

However

CONFIDENTIAL