TNAG-0668-FCO40-817-Visit-of-Prime-Minister-of-Western-Samoa-to-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 2

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香港下亞厘畢道

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8 AUG 1977

HXX 353/558

泮

Dear Serek, Денк,

1.

Thank you for your letter of 28 July, which arose from my comments about the transit through Hong Kong of the Prime Minister of Western Samoa.

2. In general, current Chinese policy appears to be to make the maximum practical use of Hong Kong for China's advantage. This is most easily seen in the straight commercial field, because of the value of foreign exchange earnings. But undoubtedly the holding of conferences in Hong Kong can be of great advantage to the Chinese; partly because of the contacts that can be made and partly because of the possibility of learning something from the conferences or from reports of them. The "Chinese Dimension" which has worried us has always arisen from the possibility that there might be set up a permanent presence from the Soviet Union, the Eastern European countries or any other pro-Soviet communist group. (The Cubans, as you know, slipped in under the net because of the change of regime in Havana, but we are still very restrictive in our policy of granting visas to Cuban nationals.) The danger of a permanent communist presence (apart from Chinese) makes us wary of granting visas to nationals of the countries concerned. We are also anxious to prevent such people causing embarrassment to China by what they might do and say here.

3. It seems to me that, provided the tacit understanding con- tinues between the British and Chinese authorities about guarding against Hong Kong being used to irritate or threaten China, and provided we do not drop our guard on not only the Soviet angle, but also the "Two China's" problem in respect of visitors who may come from Taiwan, Hong Kong may safely be used more and more as the venue for conferences, both of a local and "international" flavour.

4.

For the last six months or so, the policy of the local communists towards outside contacts has become exceedingly friendly and "open", within the framework of a general "united front" policy. The communist newspapers are getting more readable and the content is becoming more like that of the other newspapers here. Communist films are much less dogmatic. The recent per- formance which I saw of the Chungking Acrobatic Troupe had no propaganda content in it.

There was even a modest suggestion in

the programme notes that not only was the troupe in Hong Kong and

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