TNAG-0560-FCO40-655-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 9

Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1

Telephone 01-

930 8440 Ext 171

CDS Drace-Francis Esq

Assistant Political Advisor

HONG KONG

Your reference

Our reference

Date

11 April 1975

Dear Clarker.

ввови

33)

REF

าร

5

UN NARCOTICS CONFERENCE

1.

Thank you for your letter NS/98/76/98c of 24 March about the possibility of Hong Kong being asked by the UN to host the 1975 Conference of Operational Heads of National Narcotics law Enforcement Agencies, Far East Region.

2. We can see that there is a lot to be said for Hong Kong hosting this meeting. But if you do, itwould clearly leave a very bad impression if you then refused entry to certain delegates with a legitimate interest in participating in the Conference, and we would not wish you to do so. The decision must therefore depend on your own policy towards the admission of communist nationals. To judge from your letter, there is a possibility, albeit slight, that Soviet bloc nationals may wish to attend the Conference and a much stron er possibility that a Pathet Lao may want to do so. Although you do not mention the point, there is obviously a very strong possibility that by the time the Conference is due, there will be two more communist governments in Asia, so you may therefore have a communist Khmer seeking to participate or even a communist South Vietnamese. In the latter case, a bid to participate could perhaps be rejected on technical grounds depending on whether the Republic of Vietnam has ever participated in the work of these agencies. But in the other cases I have mentioned, you could find yourselves in a difficult position. The decision must therefore rest with you; would the kudos of hosting this Conference outweigh the possible disadvantages of having to relax, for this occasion, your normal strict rules on admission of communist nationals to the Colony?

Yours

incerely

cc: UND

SEAD E SD

SECRET

D K Timms

Hong Kong and Indian Ocean Department

..