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9.
I said yes, we had a Community Relief Trust Fund which was ready to help the victims of all natural disasters in Hong Kong. There was an established list of sums of money paid out to people who had suffered particular losses, e.g. a certain rate for a Cow, a pig etc. I said that in addition the Hong Kong Government was involved in spending several millions of Hong Kong dollars in repairing damage to public buildings and installations such as roads, bridges etc.
Mr. Tam asked what we were doing for squatters whose huts had been destroyed.
10.
11.
I replied that they were being offered accommodation in resettlement blocks. (I learned after this conversation that this is true of only some of them.) I added that I was
not sure whether in addition to resettlement accommodation they also got compensation for the loss of huts which were of course by definition illegal structures.
12.
This seemed to complete Mr. Tam's brief on Typhoon Rose. We sat looking at each other for a few seconds. He then asked me whether I had any views on President Nixon's visit to Peking. He asked in particular whether the British Government had had notice of the announcement and said he understood that the British Government had welcomed it.
13.
I replied that, like other governments, the British Government had had only short notice of the announcement and confirmed that they had indeed welcomed it. I said that the improvement of relations between China and the U.S.A. seemed to be obviously a good thing and should benefit Hong Kong too.
14. readily. take place.
Mr. Tam had to agree with this platitude and did so
He then asked me when I thought the visit would
15.
I said I had no idea. I added that we had had in Britain some experience of summit meetings and we thought that it was necessary to have very full preparation for them.
16.
Mr. Tam agreed with this platitude too and said that if progress was to be made there would have to be a willingness to move on both sides (a remark which struck me as surprisingly detached and free from propaganda). Mr. Tam added his view that he thought the visit would take place early next year in order that Mr. Nixon could get the maximum benefit from it for his election campaign.
17.
After another few seconds of silence Mr. Tam asked me what I thought was going to happen in the China vote in the U.N.
18.
I said I thought the Albanian Resolution was likely to be successful this year, partly because of the number of countries which had recognised Peking in the last few months and partly because the other possible resolutions designed to preserve Taiwan as a member were probably contrary to the charter of the U.N.
19.
Mr. Tam asked me what Britain would do.
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