TNAG-0113-FCO40-149-Detainees-and-prisoners-following-19671968-disturbances-1969 — Page 102

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the public here that we had done or were just.

on the point of doing all that we properly

could to facilitate Grey's release. Thus if

we can hold to the September timing in the

Brooke case, we can in the meantime continue

to handle the Grey case on its merits.

4. Even so, the Foreign and Commonwealth

Secretary by no means rules out the possibility

of some initiative over Grey.

Broadly

speaking three courses have been under

consideration here:-

a)

b)

c)

to let matters take their course in Hong

Kong;

to propose to the Governor that he should

remit the sentence of at any rate ten of

the newsworkers a matter of weeks before

their due release dates; and

to ask the Governor to try to devise some

procedure which would ensure the release

of all the eleven newsworkers in the

immediate future.

Each of these courses has its merits and

disadvantages. The Governor of Hong Kong has

hitherto considered that the premature release

of the newsworkers in Hong Kong carried

unacceptable risks for the wellbeing of Hong

Kong, both now and in the future; and we have

supported him in this. His reluctance to do

so has, understandably, been reinforced by the

fact that the Chinese have already rejected

an exchange of Grey for the eleven newsworkers,

They want the latter released unconditionally

in Hong Kong itself for maximum political

effect.

However, the Foreign and Commonwealth

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- 3 =