TNAG-0113-FCO40-149-Detainees-and-prisoners-following-19671968-disturbances-1969 — Page 154

1.

CONFIDENTIAL

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14.4.09.

Mr. Moreton

Mr. Anthony Grey of Reuters

314

1217

FROBLEM

My submission of 28 March drew attention to two recent

developments: the failure of our offer to the Chinese to

release to China for the remainder of their sentences the

eleven convicted newsworkers in return for the release of

Mr. Grey; and the review procedure whereby the sentence of

the eleventh newsworker,

is likely to be shortened,

with the result that it should become public knowledge in the

course of May that all eleven newsworkers should be out of

prison in September. I concluled that the choice in practice

confronting us was;

(a) to bring the Governor of Hong Kong to agree now

to the immediate release of all eleven newsworkers

in return for appropriate assurances that this would

result in the release of Mr. Grey; or

(b)

to let matters take their course in Hong Kong with

the reasonable expectation that Mr. Grey would be

out in September, but almost certainly not before.

And I argued in favour of the latter.

2. In a conversation with the Secretary of State on 1 April,

Mr. Long, the General Manager of Reuters, while grateful for

the prospect that the affair would be settled in September,

asked whether the date of release of the cleven might not be

advanced somewhat in order to shorten Mr. Grey's ordeal.

Secretary of State undertook to consider this.

The

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No.51

15 APR 1969

HKK 1/12

CONFIDENTIAL