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5. I asked Mrs Chen whether it would be possible to give Miss Christine Cham some information concerning the health of her uncle. She replied that they had been informed by the Guangdong authorities that he was in good health. In addition to that Miss Cham had already been to visit him. At this point Mrs Chen said that Miss Cham was also aware of the crimes that he has committed.
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6.
Although we agree with David Wilson's view (last sentence of para 8 of his letter of 3 February to Robin McLaren) that to take this particular case any further would risk an unproductive confrontation we consider that we should, at a higher level, seek some clarification of the Chinese attitude to the Hong Kong/Macao compatriot certificates as expressed by Mrs Chen. It raises the question of whether the thousands of Hong Kong British passport holders who enter China each year using these certificates are aware that by doing so they accept the fact that in China they are regarded as Chinese nationals and that we can offer them no protection. If they are not aware of this fact there might be a case for inspiring an unattributable article in the Hong Kong press. Before taking this up with the MFA we should be grateful for your comments and those of Hong Kong.
7.
You may now wish to write to Miss Cham to follow up the interim reply sent to her by Robin McLaren on 21 January.
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cc :
I C Orr Esq HONG KONG
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J W Owen
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