INWARD TELEGRAM
TO THE COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (The Secretary of State)
FROM HONG KONG (Sir D. Trench)
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En Clair
D. 20th March 1967 R. 20th
RECEIVED IN
ARCHIVES No.63
21 MARTYO
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No.367
(2)
Addressed to Commonwealth Office (D.T.D.) Repeated
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Peking
My telegram No.355.
The major local left-wing papers of 18, 19 and 20 March give prominence to readers' letters, all of which follow the lines of the articles printed on 17 March. The subject was referred to also in the report of the annual general meeting of the Chinese Reform Association.
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There are a number of vague references to the report of the working party on local administration as evidence of the "plot". The allegation is also made that "the three political parties which came into being in the past four years in accordance with the wishes and direction of the imperialists" were all aiming at the promotion of the plot; the Democratic Self-Government party was the most enthusiastic about this. These unscrupulous people "were hopeful about Mr. Bowden's plan to create a Hong Kong country, for they thought they had the support of the American imperialists who wanted Hong Kong to serve as a military base for anti-China purposes, the support of the Soviet revisionists as well as of the Chinese Nationalists in Taepei". Those who played up Mr. Bowden's statement were hinting that the Chinese communists would have no ground to claim back Hong Kong after it had become a country.
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