J
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Ex-Headmaster of Chung Wah School
4.
The
The background is set out in paragraph 12 below. Governor's present proposals for dealing with Wong are set out in Hong Kong telegram No.328 (copy attached). It will be seen that he feels that if Wong continues to visit the Yu Hua School it will be necessary to consider taking legal action against him. If this action were taken, the Governor intends that it should at the same time be made clear to Wong that if he were to apply to the Director of Education for permission to visit the school, such permission would be granted for reasonably frequent visits consistent with his position as owner of the premises and legal action against him would be dropped. The Governor has also said that the authorities would still not want to ask the Court to impose a sentence of imprisonment on him on this occasion but would be content with a fine or even a conditional discharge.
5.
In a recent letter to the Department, our Charge d'Affaires in Peking has warmed us that if legal action against Wong were to lead to the latter's imprisonment, this could have serious consequences for detained British subjects. He has considerable doubts about the taking of any legal action against Wong because 11 once the judicial process has begun I do not see how we can guarantee that it will not end in imprisonment for Wong" He also states that "such hope as there is of obtaining the early release of Grey and other British subjects would, I am sure, be extinguished if in 1969, one year and a half after the end of violent confrontation in Hong Kong, a communist sympathiser was imprisoned for an offence involving a breach of the Education Ordinance entailing visits to a school, the premises of which he owns"
6. The situation needs to be examined afresh in the light of
Wong's departure for China on 3 May. It is not known why Tong has gone to China, but it could be :
(a)
that he was recalled for briefing on how to play his hand; or for reprimand for having clashed with the Hong Kong authorities (this would be in line with
recent directives from Peking to communist cadres in
Hong Kong that their struggle must be adapted to take account of local conditions);
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or
/ (b)