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letter, indicating also that any delegation led by Mr Lee returning to London in January would be received by him on the same basis as before. I understand that their preference would be for the
Secretary of State to receive Mr Lee.
4.
Mr Lee's letter has been made public and copies have been distributed to British MPs. We must assume that Lord Glenarthur's response will also receive wide publicity in Hong Kong. Mr Lee makes a well argued and superficially convincing case; but we believe that it is possible to refute every point he makes. We are preparing a paper which will seek to do so in detail. In the meantime it would be neither necessary or appropriate for Lord Glenarthur to match the length of Mr Lee's letter. The attached draft is designed to put HMG's position clearly on record and to provide a firm but polite response to Mr Lee.
5.
It would be most helpful if Lord Glenarthur were to sign the two versions of the letter on a contingency basis. But in any event it would be necessary for the Secretary of State to approve the text
before one or other version issued.
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CONFIDENTIAL.
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