SECRET
(a) I think that we should adhere firmly to the
principle that organisation of transportation to Hong Kong should be a Portuguese responsibilitv. In any case, the existing Macau ferries (largely Macau controlled) would be much the best means of transportation to Hong Kong. Conceivably the hydrofoils could also be used, but I suggest that it is axiomatic that no attempt should be made either to get Hong Kong ships into Macau except with the agreement of whatever authority was in control of the city nor to send ships across Chinese territorial waters in the Pearl River estuary without agreement with the C.P.G.
2. You will wish to consider whether a reply to the Portuguese should best be made in Hong Kong or in London. case I suggest that it might take the following lines:-
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
In any
we should certainly be prepared to grant transit facilities through Hong Kong to civilian Portuguese nationals from Macau en route to Portugal;
requests for transit facilities by Portuguese troops and by Portuguese nationals who did not wish to go to Europe as well as from Chinese residents of Macau without Portuguese nationality, would need further consideration in the light of developing circumstances and the numbers involved;
we would hope that a number of those in transit from Macau could be accommodated in hotels in Hong Kong. We could however offer temporary accommodation for up to 1,000 more people in hutted camps here. The provision of accommodation for greater numbers would involve major administrative difficulties but we would be prepared to see what we could do;
the organisation of transportation from Macau should be a Portuguese responsibility. We could
not at this stage, undertake to make shipping other than the normal services available.
3. There would also seem to be a strong case at this stage for impressing on the Portuguese Government the need for very careful thought before embarking on any course that would lead to all-out confrontation with the C.P.G. It might be said that from the evidence at our disposal we conclude that the Chinese are anxious to get the Macau question out of the way as quickly as possible. Given the present conditions in China, we believe that if the C.P.G. could achieve a settlement in Macau which they could represent as a "victory", early renewal of pressure on the Portuguese Government would not be very likely. If, on the other hand, the Portuguese deny the Chinese their success and attempt to prolong the negotiations, serious consequences could very easily follow in the present hysterical atmosphere of the cultural revolution.
(Repeated as requested) (Passed to Resident Clerk)
/F.0.(S)/