TOP SECRET
Reference...
with 198
Mr. Wilson (Far Eastern Department)
176
I showed you yesterday the letter from Mr. Newens to the Minister, which is on this folder. I have prepared the attached draft reply but am minuting to you before preparing the accompanying submission since the penultimate paragraph of Mr. Newens letter is more your concern than ours. The attached draft reply does contain a paragraph covering the points raised in the penultimate paragraph of Mr. Newens' letter, but you may wish to redraft or amend this particular paragraph.
2.
There has, as you know, been some recent top secret correspondence with Hong Kong, as well as a top secret submission to Ministers, on the subject of the possibility of a bargain with the Chinese whereby Mr. Grey would be released in exchange for the convicted communist newspaper workers in Hong Kong. This correspondence is on your files.
I believe that the last telegram to Hong Kong on the subject (dated the 23rd or 24th January) came down against the idea of including in any such bargain the other British subjects detained in China. You may consider it advisable to attach that correspondence to the submission which will accompany the attached draft reply to Mr. Newens.
3.
You will note that Mr. Newens is seeking a discussion with the Minister and when you and I gave preliminary thought to the matter, we came to the conclusion that it might be advantageous if the Minister would agree to see him. Mr. Newens is one of the Members of Parliament who have between them put down more than twenty Parliamentary Questions on the subject of detainees, convicted communist prisoners and emergency regulations in Hong Kong, since mid-December. Mr. Newens himself has put down two Questions: the first Question, which was answered on the 20th December, merely asked the Secretary of State to state the terms of Hong Kong emergency regulation No. 31 which confers the power of detention without trial. The second was answered on the 24th January and enquired about the number of children arrested during the 1967 disturbances in the Colony. It was the reply to the latter Question which gave rise to Mr. Newens' present letter. If the Minister were to agree to meet him and explain to him some of the difficulties that we are up against, it might persuade Mr. Newens to refrain from adding further to the flood of Parliamentary Questions.
4.
It also occurs to me (although I do not know Mr. Newens) that such a meeting might provide a suitable opportunity for the Minister to mention the subject matter of the recent top secret submission relating to the suspected source of some of the Parliamentary Questions referred to above.
5.
Perhaps you would comment on the attached draft and on the points raised above.
6 February, 1969
"ANG
(A. W. Gaminara) Hong Kong Department
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