SECRET
Hong Kong telegram No. 1652 to Commonwealth Office
7
-2-
(a) Continued virulent anti British propaganda in the
Communist Press. Main themes have been the alleged unjust imprisonment of 'patriots' as criminals and the
provocative' arrest of Commercial Press staff and Heung To students, and criticism of 'Hong Kong week' as a political 'anti China plot' as well as an attempt by Government to present a false façade of peace and stability. Statements by various struggle committees and Communist organisations supporting these themes were published throughout the week.
(e)
The continued supply of food and other produce from China with the number of goods wagons entering through Lo Wu at about pre-confrontation level. Man Kam To Bridge remained closed during the week.
2. Police action against Communist targets has continued resulting in the further seizures of small quantities of explosives, weapons and inflammatory documents. A number of workers and students from Communist controlled schools have been arrested for planting real and 'hoax' bombs or painting inflammatory slogans.
る。
The campaign to improve morale within Communist labour circles has continued with meetings at many unions during
the week. In addition to group meetings to study the thoughts of Mao, receptions have been held for union members recently released from prison and support for the dollar campaign has been emphasised. Attendance at some of these meeting is increasing and unions are calling on members to make a concerted effort to propagate the works of Mao among their friends and relatives.
*
40 On 31 October 16 Right Wing functions were held to mark the birthday of Chiang Kai-shek- The main theme of speeches was praise of Chiang and the achievements of the Kuomingtang (KMT) in Taiwan). There were no attempts by local Communists to disrupt the celebrations. This was in line with the comparatively low level of activity on the double tenth and may have been designed to illustrate that whilst opposed to any KMT activity in the colony, the real enemies of the Communists are the British.
56 The border area has been generally quiet following the incident at Man Kam To on 30 October (paragraph 1(c) refers.) This demonstration was held phobaly with the tacit approval of the PLA, but it is unlikely that the grenade throwing probably carried out by members of the militia was antic- ipated. It is considered that the PLA are maintaining their general policy of preventing or seeking to curtail incidents.
/6. The
SECRET