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(B) VISITORS WOULD BRING WORKS OF HAO AS GIFTS FOR THE PRISONERS.
PUN SAID 30TH THESE POINTS WERE' VERY, REASONABLE. A. GROUP VISIT WOULD
BE MORE CONVENIENT AND WOULD SAVE TIME. THE WORKS OF HAO WERE ON
SALE FREELY IN HONG KONG AND WE HAD SAID AT AN EARLIER MEETING THAT
WE VERE NOT OPPOSED TO THE PROPAGATION OF THE CHAIRMAN'S THOUGHTS.
THE IMPRISONED NEWS WORKERS WERE 'OUR OWN PEOPLE' SO THERE SHOULD BE
NO DIFFICULTY ABOUT LETTING THEM HAVE MAO'S THOUGHTS. P.A. SAID
THAT THESE WERE MATTERS FOR THE COMMISSIONER OF PRISONS AND HE WAS
PREPARED TO CONSULT THE COMMISSIONER. BUT HE COULD NOT HOLD OUT MUCH
HOPE THAT THEY WOULD BE ACCEPTED AND CONSIDERATION OF THEM WAS BOUND.
TO LEAD TO DELAY.
4 PUN THEN SAID HE WISHED TO DISCUSS ANOTHER QUESTION. WE HAD OFTEN
EXPRESSED A DESIRE TO SEE SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS NORMALIZED. UNLESS
THE HONG KONG PROBLEM WAS SOLVED THIS WOULD BE VERY DIFFICULT. THE
ACTIONS OF THE HONG KONG AUTHORITIES DID NOT HOWEVER INDICATE A
DESIRE TO NORMALIZE SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS. P.A. SAID WE HAD IN FACT
DONE A GOOD DEAL. WE HAD RELEASED 16 DETAINEES SINCE JULY SEMICOLON
WE HAD REFRAINED FROM PROSECUTING COMMUNIST NEWSPAPERS DESPITE THE
LIBELOUS AND SEDITIOUS ARTICLES THEY PUBLISHED SENI COLON AND WE HAD
DELIBERATELY EXCERCISED RESTRAINT. ON THE CHINESE SIDE, WE HAD NOT-
-ICED THAT THE TREATMENT OF THE MISSION IN PEKING HAD RETURNED TO
NEAR NORMAL THOUGH TRAVEL WITHIN CHINA WAS STILL NOT PERMITTED, BUT
THE SERIOUS PROBLEM OF DETAINED BRITISH SUBJECTS, ESPECIALLY GREY,
REMAINED.
>
5. PUN SAID WE HAD ONLY RELEASED A SMALL NUMBER OF DETAINEES. THERE
WERE ALSO NEARLY 500 COMPATRIOTS STILL IN JAIL, 14 OF WHOM WERE
NEWS WORKERS WHO HAD BEEN CARRYING OUT NORMAL REPORTING DUTIES WHEN
THEY WERE ARRESTED. THESE FACTS EXPLAINED WHY GREY WAS BEING DETAIN-
ED. P.A. REMINDED N.C.N.A. THAT CONFRONTATION PRISONERS HAD ALL.
BEEN LEGALLY ARRESTED AND SENTENCED. THEY WERE BEING GIVEN NORMAL
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/REMISSION
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