NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Dd. 32855 Ed (4200)
exercise of a relatively severe nature.
We do not know whether it was instigated
by Peking (or Canton) or whether it
started at the initiative of the Hong
Kong Communists and later attracted a
measure of support from China.
The
confrontation demonstrated, however, that
the Hong Kong Government were able and
prepared to use a degree of force in
dealing with it and could count on solid
backing from the Chinese population
sufficient to discourage the Chinese
Government from thinking that they would
have an easy victory. At that point the
main line of Chinese policy ((c) above)
reasserted itself and at that point also,
relations between China and Hong Kong
returned to normal, which is what they
are now.