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Ta Kung Pao May 31, 1967
China Lodges Most Urgent and Strongest Protest
Chinese Government and People Determined to
Carry Struggle Through to the End
Peking, May 15 (Hsinhua) - Lo Kuei-po, Chinese Vice- Minister of Foreign Affairs, early this morning summoned D.C. Hopson, British Charge d'Affaires to China, and handed him a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which lodges the most urgent and the strongest protest with the British Government against the fascist atrocities committed by the British authorities in Hong- kong against Chinese workers and residents there.
Full text of the statement follows:
On the afternoon of May 6, 1967, Chinese workers of the Hongkong San- pokong Artificial Plastic Flower Works launched a struggle against intensified capitalist exploitation. To shield capital and suppress labour, the British authori- ties in Hongkong brazenly turned out on the same day more than two hun- dred armed policemen and 'riot police', sanguinarily suppressing the workers of the factory and other Chinese residents, beating and wounding many of them and arresting twenty-one persons. After- wards, they also arrested the President of the Federation of the Rubber and Plastic Trade Unions and workers' re- presentatives who went to a Hongkong police station to protest. On the after- noon of the 11th, the British authori- ties in Hongkong carried out another sanguinary suppression, on an even big 'ger scale by turning loose on the bare- handed workers, representatives of var- ious circles and young students large numbers of armed troops, policemen and riot police' totalling more than 1,000, who repeatedly attacked them with clubs, riot guns and tear bombs and even turning out military vehicles and helicopters. Many persons (including newsreel cameramen and journalists) were arrested. After the 12th, the Bri- tish authorities in Hongkong still con- tinued large-scale arrests of the de- monstrating masses. By the morning of the 14th, more than 400 have been arrest→ ed. At present, the situation is still being aggravated.
Premeditation
It must be pointed out that these large- scale sanguinary atrocities perpetrated by the British authorities in Hongkong are the result of long premeditation and are a component part of the British Gov- ernment's scheme of collusion with US
imperialism against China. On the one hand, in coordination with the US im- perialist war escalation in Vietnam, the British Government is continuing to pro- vide the United States with Hongkong as a base for aggression against Vietnam in disregard of the repeated solemn warn- ings of the Chinese Government, and on the other, it is steadily stepping up various hostile measures against China in Hongkong. Particularly since the unfold- ing of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, the British authori- ties in Hongkong have carried out repeat- ed military and police manoeuvres hostile to China and aimed at the sanguinary suppression of Chinese residents in Hongkong, vainly attempting to exclude the great influence of China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution by high- handed tactics. The persecution of Chi- nese residents and workers by the Bri- tish authorities in Hongkong by making use of the labour-capital dispute of the 'Artificial Plastic Flower Works is a big exposure of this criminal plan of san- guinary suppression. Their fascist atro- cities have aroused boundless indignation among the Chinese residents in Hong kong and the entire Chinese people. The Chinese Government hereby lodges the most urgent and the strongest protest with the British Government against these atrocities.
Cultural Revolution
The sanguinary atrocities wholly per- petrated by the British authorities in Hongkong show that they mortally fear and bitterly hate China's Great Prole- tarian Cultural Revolution. This great revolutionary movement which is with- out parallel in history has dealt a tell- ing blow to imperialism, modern re- visionism and world reaction, completely shattered their dream of counter-revolu- tionary capitalist restoration in China and greatly encouraged and impelled the liberation struggles of the oppressed peo- ples and oppressed nations of the whole world. In particular, this great revolu- tionary movement has caused our Chi- nese compatriots in Hongkong to love still more ardently the thought of Mao Tse-tung, and they are vigorously un- folding the movement of creative study and application of Chairman Mao's works. Armed with ever-victorious thought of Mao Tse-tung, the masses of
kong as follows:
Immediately accept all the just de- mands put forward by Chinese workers and residents in Hongkong;
Immediately stop all fascist measures; Immediately set free all the arrested persons (including workers, journalists and cameramen);
Punish the culprits responsible for these sanguinary atrocities, offer apolo- gies to the victims and compensate for all their losses; and
Guarantee against the occurrence of similar incidents.
To the End
The British Government and the Bri- tish authorities in Hongkong must im- mediately and unconditionally accept the above-mentioned solemn and just de- mands of the Chinese Government. The Chinese Government and people are de- termined to carry the struggle through to the end. Should the British Govern ment and the British authorities in Hong- kong cling to their perverse course, they must be held responsible for all the grave consequences arising therefrom.
China Cannot Stand Idly By
Vice-
Peking, May 27 (Hsinhua) Premier Chen Yi here today strongly condemned the British Government and the British authorities in Hongkong for carrying out wild suppression of Chinese compatriots in Hongkong.
He said: The Chinese Government put forward a solemn five-point demand in its Foreign Ministry statement of May 15. Yet in the past ten days and more, in disregard of the protest and demand made by the Chinese Government, the British Government has continued its atrocious suppression with redoubled
nese
Chen Yi
efforts. In face of this, the Chinese Government and people absolutely can- not stand idly by. The British Govern- ment must immediately accept the Chi- Government's five-point demand and stop its suppression of Chinese re- sidents in Hongkong. Otherwise it must bear the responsibility for all the grave consequences arising therefrom.'
Vice-Premier Chen Yi made these re- marks this evening at the reception given by Mohammad Asef Sohail, Afghan Am- bassador to China, marking the 49th an- niversary of the Independence of Afghan- istan.
our patriotic compatriots are more mill Lo Kuei-po Denounces Brown
tant than ever in fighting imperialism. Frightened out of their wits by this, the British authorities in Hongkong vainly attempted by violent suppression to restrict the influence of Mao Tse-tung's thought and to maintain their control, and thus committed the barbarous fascist atrocities.
Miscalculated
The Chinese Government must sternly warn the British Government that in so doing you have completely miscalculated and misjudged your opponent. Succeed- ing to the glorious tradition of anti-im- perialist struggle of over a century, the Chinese workers and residents in Hong kong armed with Mao Tse-tung's thought are neither to be cowed nor crushed. Holding high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought, they are re- solute, fear no sacrifice and are sur- mounting every difficulty to win victory in this struggle against the atrocities committed by the British authorities in Hongkong. Heroic, staunch and un- yielding, they have greatly developed the glorious anti-imperialist and patriotic tra- dition and are indeed fine sons and daughters of the Chinese nation. The British authorities in Hongkong are blustering and baring their fangs, but as Chairman Mao, the great leader of the Chinese people, has pointed out, 'In the final analysis, their persecution of the revolutionary people only serves to accelerate the people's revolutions on a broader and more intense scale.' In san- guinarily suppressing Chinese residents, the British authorities in Hongkong can only end up like one lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet.'
Five Demands
The Chinese Government hereby solemnly declares: The Chinese Govern- ment and the seven hundred million Chi- nese people firmly support their com- patriots in Hongkong in their heroic and just struggle and resolutely stand behind them as their powerful backing. The Chinese Government demands in all seriousness that the British Government instruct the British authorities in Hong-
Arrogant... Unreasonable... Rude
Peking, May 22 (Hsinhua) Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Lo Kuei-po this afternoon summoned the British Charge d'Affaires to China, D.C. Hopson, to lodge the strongest protest with the Bri- tish government. The British government up till now has made no reply to the solemn demands put forward in the statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on May 15. On the contrary, the British Government has stepped up its fascist atrocities in Hong- kong. While receiving the Chinese Charge d'Affaires ad interim to Britain on May 19, Britain's Foreign Secretary Brown went to the length of slandering as 'disturbances' the just action of the Chinese revolutionary masses in staging demonstrations, of smear- ing the Chinese revolutionary masses as 'mobs' and of taking an extremely arrogant and unreasonable, rude attitude toward the Chinese diplomatic representatives. Vice-Foreign Minister Lo Kuei-po summoned the British Charge d'Affaires at 5:30 this afternoon and lodged the strongest protest against this. At the same time, Vice-Foreign Minister Lo Kuei-po declared that the Chinese Gov. ernment had decided to annul the ar- rangement by which the British Charge d'Affaires' office posted personnel in Shanghai, and ordered the British per- sonnel to leave Shanghai within 48 hours.
Vice-Minister Lo Kuei-po first pointed out: 'Since the publication of the state- ment of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 15, the British authori- ties in Hongkong have continued to use large numbers of troops, police and se- cret service agents, and even gone to the length of employing military vehi- cles and helicopters to deal completely unarmed Chinese inhabitants there. In the past ten days and more, six to seven hundred have been unwarrantedly ar- rested and sentenced. Even old men of more than sixty and children of around ten are not excepted from this malicious treatment and they too have been sentenced to prison terms.
This
is an out-and-out fascist atrocity which we absolutely cannot tolerate."
He declared: 'At present the fascist atrocities of the British authorities in Hongkong are continuing to spread." He made this solemn demand: "The British
Government must immediately stop its persecution of the Chinese inhabitants in Hongkong and make speedy replies to the five-point demand put forward in the statement of the Chinese Foreign Minis- try."
Vice-Minister Lo Kuei-po emphatically. pointed out: 'On May 19, when the Bri- tish Foreign Secretary Brown received the Chinese Charge d'Affaires ad interim, Mr Shen Ping, he took an extremely arrogant and unreasonable, rude attitude and used shameful imperialist language in unrestrainedly slandering the Chinese revolutionary masses. We express the strongest indignation and lodge the strongest protest against this.
'Because the British Government has taken a hostile attitude toward the Chi- nese people, and especially because the British authorities in Hongkong have per- petrated sanguinary atrocities against Chinese inhabitants in Hongkong, the ar- rangement made in 1954, in which the Chinese Government, out of considera- tion for the request of the British Gov- ernment, agreed to the British Charge d'Affaires' office posting personnel in Shanghai in charge of the affairs of Bri- tish nationals there, has now entirely lost its original meaning. Therefore, the Chi- nese government decides to annul this arrangement and demands that Mr P.M. Hewitt leave Shanghai within 48 hours."