HC Deb 08 November 1954 vol 532 cc842-3
19. Captain Kerby

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what subjects he discussed with Mr. Huan Hsiang during their first official meeting at the Foreign Office.

Sir Anthony Eden

Mr. Huan Hsiang called upon me on 3rd November to present his credentials as Chinese Chargé d'Affairés.

Captain Kerby

Did my right hon. Friend take this opportunity of raising with the new Chinese Chargé d'Affaires the question of Mr. Robert Ford, a British subject who has been languishing in a Chinese gaol for upwards of four years?

Sir A. Eden

That subject has been raised a great many times by representatives of Her Majesty's Government, and I think I have stated before that it was raised during the Geneva Conference. But I am not prepared—and it has never been our practice—to give the House any detailed account of confidential meetings which I have with the envoys to Her Majesty's Court.