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Communist countries.
Lord Shepherd said that, as he told Mrs. Grey
yesterday, he would not wish to raise false hopes over
6.
the early release of Mr. Grey. All he would say was that
last week he was down in the dumps. He saw no prospect
then of any move by the Chinese. But since then he
had seen a few signs which had led him to believe that
there was a faint glimmer of hope. But he had to warn
against optimism.
7.
but,
Lord Shepherd said that he would say frankly, in the
utmost confidence, that he was convinced that the Chinese
were ready to release Mr. Grey last November when they
called in Mr. Craddock. Hopes were high, but the outcome
was disappointing. It may be that it was the first move
of the Chinese as a prelude to releasing Mr. Grey:
of course, this was mere speculation. While he was sure
it was right that deep indignation should be publicly
expressed after Mr. Craddock's call on Mr. Grey in November,
there were signs that the Press outcry over this caused
the Chinese considerable embarrassment. Although he
himself subscribed to the theory that the Chinese were
susceptible to world pressures it had to be recognised
that they were extremely sensitive on the question of "face".
Clearly they were unlikely to reconsider their position under
the pressure of publicity. His view was that, in the
circumstances the aim should be to loser the temperature as much as possible. The dampening down of press comment
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