CYPWER/CAT A

EMERIATE HONG KONG

TELEGRAM NUMBER 1800

TO FOREIGN OFFİCE

22 DECEMBER, 1067

Copy

on ISD

-D22/293

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(213)

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TOP SECRET

198A

TELEGR

MY TELEGRAM 1834 : CPG POLICY TOWARDS HONG KONG.

ON THE 21ST DECEMBER THE

SENIOR COMMUNIST IN LOCAL PUBLISHING CIRCLES HELD A CONVERSATION

OUTLIN WITH A SENIOR SUBORDINATE DURING WHICH HE OUTLINED A NEW POLICY

DIRECTIVE FROM CHÍNA.

2.

I

HE.EXPLAINED THAT THERE HAD REEN A CHANGE OF POLICY BY THE

11 'CENTRAL CA TERM USED TO REFER TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF

THE CCP OR ''AUTHORITY IN PEKING''), AND THAT A DIRECTIVE HAD

PEEN RECEIVED FROM CANTON TO THE EFFECT THAT THE COMMUNISTS IN HONG KONG WOULD, IN FUTURE,. ''ENGAGE IN POLITICAL STRUGGLE'' AGAINST THE BRITISH AUTHORITIES, AND THAT VIOLENCE WOULD CEASE.

THERE WOULD RE NO MORE BOMB INCIDENTS.

P

3. HE ADDED THAT SOME LEADING COMMUNISTS HAD BEEN OPOSED TO THIS

CHANGE IN POLICY. HOWEVER, IT HAD BEEN DECIDED THAT ALL POLICY FOR HONG KONG AND MACAU WOULD, IN FUTURE, BE HANDLED DIRECTLY BY THE ''CENTRAL''. HE HAD BEEN INSTRUCTED TO DISCUSS WITH HIS CADRES

HOW TO PUT OVER THE DIRECTIVE TO THEIR SUBORDINATES. FOR THE TIME BEING PUBLICATION OF THE ''MOSQUITO PAPERS'' WOULD BE ALLOWED

TO CONTINUE. BONE FIDE LEFT WING NEWSPAPERS IN THE COLONY WOULD HENCEFORTH CONCENTRATE ON PROPAGANDA (PRESUMABLY ANTI-GOVERNMENT) BUT HAD BEEN WARNED TO AVOID EXAGGERATION. IN A RATHER DISJOINTED REFERENCE TO 'NEGOTIATIONS', HE INFERRED THAT BECAUSE OF ECONCHIC REQUIREMENTS AND PRESUMABLY AS A RESULT OF THE POLICY CHANGE, SONE NEGOTIATIONS WERE NECESSARY, AND THESE WOULD BE LIKELY TO LAST AT LEAST TWO MONTHS EVEN IF STARTED IMMEDIATELY. HE CONTINUED, ''OF COURSE HONG KONG CGOVERNMENT) WILL BE REQUIRED TO PUT ITS

CARDS ON THE TABLE AND SAY WHAT THEY INTEND DOING ABOUT THE TAIWAN

(KMT) ORGANISATIONS HERE''.

TRUEDE MAS DFFN 0

MAJOR CHANGE OF POLICY.

THIS IS A COPY THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN RETAINED IN THE DEPARTMENT UNDER SECTION 3(4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958

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