SECRET
INWARD TELEGRAM
TO THE COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (The Secretary of State)
FROM HONG KONG (Sir D. Trench)
Action laku
off file.
PA-
Джа
Cypher
D.
16th January, 1967.
08.58 hrs.
-
Ro
16th
**
IMMEDIATE SECRET
No. 66.
Addressed to Commonwealth office.
Repeated
#
11
"Lisbon No. M.40.
Washington No. 19.
RECEIVED MJ
ARCHIV
HWB 3/3
"Peking No. 31. (Please pass IMMEDIATE to
Lisbon, ROUTINE to other two).
My telegram No. 55.
Macao.
We have now seen the Portuguese Consul-General on his return from Macao. He said that the situation there was very uncertain as the Chinese were still insisting on Portuguese acknowledgment of their 'crimes'. He confirmed that this was the only major point at issue and that no new Chinese demands had been made. A Portuguese delegation was crossing to China this afternoon to present a revised draft of the Portuguese 'apology' in terms approved by Lisbon, much would depend on what happened at that meeting.
2.
*
Consul-General went on to say that no decision had yet been taken about evacuation. The Governor of Macao had asked him to take especial care to ensure that his request of 14th January to the Hong Kong Government did not leak.
3. On points relevant to paragraph 3 of your telegram No. 94, Consul-General said:-
LART
(i) The total number of Portuguese nationals in Macao was
believed to be about 7,000. Of these, 1,000 were military personnel. Many of the remainder were in fact people of Chinese race who would not be likely to leave Macao in any circumstances. But he could give no accurate figure of how many would be likely to want to come to Hong Kong.
(ii) Facilities for which Portuguese had asked related to
Portuguese civilian nationals who would be in transit to some other Portuguese territory. But it was likely that other non-Portuguese persons would want to come to Hong Kong as well, in particular Kuomintang supporters.
(iii) Although the ferries could obviously be used for evacuation there would probably not be sufficient sea transport available in Macao for the purpose of bringing evacuees to Hong Kong. Implication was that help would be required from Hong Kong. About transportation out of Hong Kong, tentative thinking in Macao was that movement should take place by air.
REF.
KER
REF.
20
SECRET
THIS IS A COPY
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN RETAINED IN THE DEPARTMENT UNDER SECTION 344) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958