TNAG-0611-FCO40-759-Presence-of-Warsaw-Pact-countries-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 10

CONFIDENTIAL

to consider any relaxation.

5. It is difficult to justify our restrictions on oviet

activities in Hong Kong in any terms that the kussians

could not publicly ridicule. The Minister may therefore

prefer to withold explanations and, if the subject is

raised by the Russians, to reply that this is a question

for the Hong Kong Government. If the Russians press the

matter, the Minister might state that Hong Kong is self-

evidently a special case and thereafter resist attempts

to draw him into further comment.

A

6. s to (b), the Russian Embassy in London recently

requested permission for the Loviet research vessel, the

'Dimitry Mendeleev', to visit Hong Kong from 31 October

3 November. In their note the Russians stated that the

boat was in the area on an international project to study

the KUNO SIWO current and, as on previous occasions (the

most recent was in June last year), the Soviet authorities

appeared to attempt to gain support for their request by

parallel approaches to the Royal Society.

7. However it was considered that proposed visit was

almost certainly no more than a Loviet ploy to gain entry

into Hong Kong. (The latter is not a necessary port of

call as the course of the Kuro Diwo current lies, at its

nearest, some 600-800 miles distant from Hong Kong.) It

was thought that the Chinese would misunderstand the visit

and would probably invoke the late Secretary of tate's

assurance (see paragraph 3 above), while to grant

admission to the boat would establish a precedent for

regular visits by Soviet research vessels and would

/undermine

CONETDENITAT.