TNAG-0110-FCO40-146-Detainees-and-prisoners-following-19671968-disturbances-1968 — Page 113

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b)

c)

The remission of the sentences on the 13 newspaper workers.

The main argument against this remains the extent to which

we should be eroding our position were we to show that

we were prepared to bend our legal processes in response

to Chinese pressures.

Mr. Cradock has argued that we

have already sold the pass by offering the premature release

of

But this was never done formally and

specifically; and in a matter of confidence like this a

difference in degree between one and 13 is important.

The remission of the sentence of Lo, the N.C.N.A.

journalist still in prison, and possibly also of some

others of the 13 newspaper workers. There are grounds for

believing that the release of all 13 news workers would

secure the release of Mr. Grey. But it would in practice

be very difficult to satisfy ourselves that anything less

would be effective; and if Lo and others were released

without results, the Governor might well find it more

difficult to consider any further measures of clemency.

a) The release of all the remaining detainees. The detainees

are a political embarrassment here and, to some extent, also

in Hong Kong. Admittedly the release of the hard core

might present security risks which in the final instance

can be assessed only in Hong Kong. But quite apart from

the question of Mr. Grey, I personally think that we may

now have reached the stage when the political embarrassment

(These issues are also

/ referred

outweighs the security advantage.

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