TNAG-0110-FCO40-146-Detainees-and-prisoners-following-19671968-disturbances-1968 — Page 28

- No. 7

CHINA

IN THE NEWS

HONG KONG

DECEMBER, 1968

AND THE RULE OF

LAW

-

not to

"It is extraordinary say discreditable that after 53 years of British rule the vast majority of Chinese in Hong Kong should remain so

little anglicized."

Sir William Robinson,

Govenor of Hong Kong, 1895

Lue did not vales an

the statement. We veled on an encorated alice in the Pehna Review Lineshen

mentioned & fernabend?

+ hamed

of them.

In the past weeks, a campaign for the release from house-arrest of Mr Anthony Grey, Reuter's correspondent in Peking, has been build- ing up in Parliament and the mass media.

The circumstances in which Mr Grey was confined to his house were made clear by the Chinese at the time:

1

"The Information Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry has been authorised to state, that in view of the Hongkong British authorities' unreasonable persecution of the correspondents of the Hongkong Branch of the Hsinhua News Agency and other patriotic newsmen, the Chinese Government has decided to limit the freedom of the British Reuter's Peking corres- pondent pending further notice

2

(Renmin Ribao, 22 July, 1967 - reproduced

in Peking Review, 28 July, 1967, p.23)

In his reply to questions in the House of Commons An 18 November, 1968, the Foreign Secretary stated that:

of these journalists mentioned in Chinese publicity at the time of Mr Grey's detention the last, Hsueh Ping was released on November 16. the circumstances we must hope for the speedy release of Mr Grey."

In

Mr Stewart is here presenting his own interpretation of the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement (described as "publicity") which clearly associates the case of Anthony Grey with the general situ- ation of Chinese journalists suffering "unreasonable persecution" in Hong Kong. The fact that a number of Chinese journalists were imprisoned or detained following the restriction on Mr Grey's movements would obviously exacerbate this situation. According to the local press, thirteen journalists are still imprisoned in Hong Kong.