TNAG-0932-FCO40-1151-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-China-1980 — Page 113

CODE 18-77

NOTE FOR FILE

CONFIDENTIAL

Reference....

NEK C20

RECEIVED IN ESCRTEY NO. 51 - 3 MAR 1930

DECK G INDSK

BY

FA

¡ion Taken

No

14

(26

INCIDENT IN DEEP BAY

After discussions with Mr Wright in DS5, MOD, and with Mr Orr in Hong Kong, I agreed that the MOD should issue the following statement:

1.

'At approximately 0030 hours Hong Kong time on 29 February there was an accidental collision between a Royal Navy hovercraft and a Chinese patrol craft in Deep Bay in the North-West of the Territory. No injuries were sustained by Royal Navy personnel and neither vessel was seriously damaged, though the engine of the hovercraft has broken down. Two launches of the Royal Hong Kong Police and a number of Chinese vessels deployed to the area. The hovercraft is still in situ, and discussions are now proceeding with a view to establishing the facts of

the incident."

2. At the request of Hong Kong, the MOD will try to avoid being drawn into giving any further details, though if pressed they will emphasise that the collision was a genuine accident, and that as far as we know the only injury on the Chinese side was a minor injury to one sailor. Otherwise they will say that no further comments can be made until the facts have been fully established. Any questions about the political implications of the incident will be referred to the FCO.

3. I spoke to Miss Whiting in News Department, and drew her attention to Hong Kong telegram No 310 containing the texts of the statements put out in Hong Kong by GIS. I suggested that she should confine herself to those texts in answering any questions. If pressed, she should also say that no further comments can be made until the facts are fully established.

4. The MOD originally intended to mention that the collision took place in an area patrolled by both Governments, and to explain, if asked, that this was in accordance with the provisions of the 1898 Treaty which gave Chinese warships the right to enter, among other places, Deep Bay. However, Mr Orr asked that they should drop this reference given the different views that we and the Chinese Government have of the 1898 Treaty. The MOD have also agreed, at Hong Kong's request, to omit any reference to the fact that armed Chinese boarded the hovercraft.

29 February 1980

wr.

WE Quantrill

Hong Kong and General Department

CC FED

CONFIDENTIAL