At is difficult Hong
Khong
SECRET
6.
It was agreed that the Hong Kong Government should be urged to call on the R.1.0's resources without hesitation and that Mr. Smith should be informed that this had been done.
Analysis of Targets.
The targets in Annexes A and B were agreed and in discussion the Chairman pointed out that
of convincing S.E. Asian Governments of the Hong Kong Governments intention to maintain law and order. It was also important to detach the Overseas Chinese communities from their allegiance to the Peking Government thereby minimising Communist Chinese influence. Youth in Hong Kong was a important target in view of the large number of young people in the colony's population.
8. It was agreed that the targets of the working group should also include Commonwealth and friendly foreign governments, insofar as information work in these quarters was not covered on the political net.
Propaganda Themes.
9. The list of propaganda themes at Annex C was circulated and agreed. In discussion it was pointed out that the argument about the dependance of China on foreign exchange earned through Hong Kong should be used carefully since studies in hand suggested that the Chinese would continue to earn half this amount if they annexed Hong Kong.
ORGANISATIONAL PROBLEMS.
10. The meeting considered the use of Hong Kong Government offices as an information outlet. It was pointed out that there were few of these offices and that they were primarily concerned with trade promotion but there was nothing to prevent B.I.S anywhere from helping Hong Kong Government offices or putting out information on the Colony.
11. Channels of communication with the llong Kong Government were felt to be inadequate at present but Mr. Rivett-Carnac was said to be fully aware of this. He was proposing to take immediate steps to ensure a free flow of information on his arrival in Hong Kong. It was thought particularly important that frae access to all the facts should be available to someone who would thus have an overall picture of the situation. A further problem to be solved was that of communication between Mr. Rivett-Carnac and London, in view of the unclear nature of his terms of reference. As an employee of the Hong Kong Government there were constitutional difficulties in Mr. Rivett-Carnac corresponding directly with the Foreign Office.
CONCLUSIONS.
:
SEOREE.
THIS IS A COPY
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN
IN THE DEPARTMENT U
SON
3 (4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958
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