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A
Page
CONFIDENTIAL
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Primary Sysarany
The minister
the draft.
Mr Đám
yam
agrees
6.J. Derey' 3/12
PS/Mr Goodlad
Private Secretary
Am
-2 DEC 1992
FROM: J C Morris
Hong Kong Department
DATE: 2 December 1992
cc: Mr Gardner, ISD (0)
An 2112. пами ум
HONG KONG: SECURE TELEPHONE-LINK TO PEKING
こ
مامكم عنا سلاما
Re
1.
44
During the Governor's recent visit, he lobbied both the Defence Secretary and Sir Roderick Braithwaite at No10, about the provision of a secure telephone link between Hong Kong and Peking. Stephen Wall has now written to the Private Secretary
to record the Prime Minister's support.
2.
The background to the reference in Mr Wall's letter to "considerable procrastination" is that Cabinet Office technical experts originally advised us that it would not be feasible to install the "Patron" system in Peking. It turns out after closer examination that it is technically feasible, but that it would be considerably more expensive than a normal
installation.
3*
On receipt of Mr Wall's letter I asked the Cabinet Office experts to coordinate the necessary work urgently. They have now advised me that work is in hand, and a "Patron" system will be installed in Peking as soon as possible. They cannot say exactly when because it depends upon how quickly BT or Mercury can install a new private line between Hong Kong and Peking. But once the line is installed, the "Patron" can be
hooked up in a few days.
HKD 196/1
tele.sub.MOR
SLM
08 DEC 1992
CONFIDENTIAL
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