0003160 G.F. 316
SECRET
6.
-3-
The CPG protest of 15th May was delivered the day after
the renewed outbreak of fighting in Canton, referred to in
paragraph 5 above. It could well be that, in the anti-British
agitation which was developing in Canton over Hong Kong, the local
authorities had found one cause at least on which revolutionary
rebels could agree and one which would divert them from the inter-
group violence with which the city was then burdened. It might even
have been hoped to go some way towards inducing them to settle
their differences.
7.
Following the initial protest, mass demonstrations took
place in Canton for five successive days. Various smaller demon-
strations were reported to have been held in other towns and
villages, as well as in Canton itself, almost daily for the rest
of the month. The Chinese press and radio reported mass rallies
and demonstrations held to denounce the Hong Kong police action,
and the Anglo-American co-operation over Vietnam which was alleged
to have inspired it, in places in China as far removed from the
Colony as Lhasa, Harbin and Kweiyang.
8.
A second protest, lodged on 23rd May, called for a speedy
reply to the demands made eight days earlier, Again, no time
limit was set.
9.
On 27th May at a reception in honour of the Afghan
National Day Foreign Minister CHEN Yi delivered a speech in
Peking on world affairs which was reported in the national and
local left-wing press and which provided further comfort for the
Colony's left-wing, but his references to Hong Kong were incidental
to the main burden of his speech. After dwelling on the Middle
East situation and denouncing Anglo-Russian-American-French
collusion, he went on to condemn HMG and the British authorities
in the Colony for carrying out "wild suppression", The CPG could
not stand idly by, he said, and HMG must reply immediately to the
Foreign Ministry's" statement.
SECRET
•
/10.
Page 135Page 136
0003160 CF. 316