CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
See folie
23
HUD
RECEIVI
- 5 OCT 1987
FM HONG KONG
TO PRIORITY FCO
TELNO 3650
OF 281001Z SEPTEMBER 87
INFO PRIORITY PEKING
T
Y
4. Taken
123344
MDLIAN 8305
COPY IST ?
22
Y OUR TELNO 2578: ICAC INTEREST IN CHINESE LAND COMMISSION MEMBER
WE HAVE SOME DIFFICULTIES WITH THE APPROACH YOU SUGGEST. YOU NOTE, THERE ARE SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES. SALIENT POINTS ARE:
AS
(A) CHUNG IS A HONG KONG BUSINESSMAN AND A BDTC, ALBEIT THE HOLDER OF A CHINESE DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT AND MEMBER OF A CHINESE DIPLOMATIC
MISSION.
(B) THE NCNA IS NOT (NOT) HIS MISSION. ANY APPROACH TO HIS HEAD OF MISSION WOULD HAVE TO BE ADDRESSED TO SUN YANHENG, THE LEADER OF THE CHINESE LAND COMMISSION TEAM. THAT TEAM IS SEPARATE FROM NCNA BOTH FORMALLY AND PHYSICALLY.
2. WE STILL PREFER THE APPROACH SUGGESTED IN OUR TELNO 3587, I.E. TO SPEAK TO CHUNG INFORMALLY AS A FIRST STEP. IT IS JUST POSSIBLE THAT CHUNG WILL NOT WISH NCNA TO KNOW THAT HE HAS BEEN ANYWHERE NEAR A CASE OF CORRUPTION, EVEN AS A WITNESS (ALTHOUGH HE WOULD PRESUMABLY CALCULATE THAT FAILING TO REPORT COULD PROVE DANGEROUS). THE CHINESE ARE CURRENTLY TAKING VERY STRONG ACTION AGAINST CORRUPT PRACTICES, INCLUDING FREQUENT USE OF THE DEATH SENTENCE. HE MIGHT CONCEIVABLY FEAR THAT HIS STOCK WITH THEM WOULD FALL IF HIS NAME WAS ASSOCIATED IN ANY WAY AT ALL WITH THE OTB CASE. WE MUST RECOGNIZE THAT SIMILAR CONSIDERATIONS MUST OCCASIONALLY EXIST IN IMMUNITY CASES ELSEWHERE, AND THAT THE CORRECT PROCEDURE MUST NEVERTHELESS PREVAIL. BUT THE UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HONG KONG, AND CHUNG'S STATUS AS A HONG KONG BELONGER AND BDTC STRIKE US AS GROUNDS FOR FLEXIBLE HANDLING.
3.
ALTHOUGH WE WOULD STILL WISH TO SPEAK TO NCNA AS WE PROPOSED (I.E. AFTER CHUNG AGREED TO COOPERATE), IF YOU CONSIDER THAT A FORMAL REQUEST MUST ALSO BE MADE WE WOULD ADDRESS THIS, AFTER SPEAKING TO NCNA, TO SUN YANHENG.
WILSON
PAGE 1 CONFIDENTIAL
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