CYPHER/ CAT A.
IMMEDIATE HONG KONG.
TELEGRAM NUMBER 287.
SECRET.
SECRET
TOP COPY
20
TO.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
8 APRIL 1969.
lepathy.
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ADDRESSED F C O TELNO 287 OF 8TH APRIL RFI POLAD SINGAPORE, WASHINGTON CANBERRA AND SAVING TO PEKING.
FOR F C O AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE AND CABINET OFFICE FOR JI C. FOLLOWING FROM LI C. ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION AS AT
0630 HRS 7TH APRIL 1969.
THE PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF THE PERIOD HAVE BEEN:
(A) WIDESPREAD COMMUNIST CELEBRATIONS OF THE OPENING OF THE 9TH CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY CONGRESS. LOCAL ORGANISATIONS WERE CAUGHT UNAWARES BY PEKING'S ANNOUNCEMENT LATE ON 1ST APRIL
AND PRE-PLANNED FUNCTIONS DID NOT BEGIN UNTIL THE
FOLLOWING DAY. SINCE THEN COMMUNIST PREMISES HAVE BEEN. BEDECKED WITH FLAGS AND BANNERS ON A SCALE SIMILAR TO THAT OF 1ST OCTOBER, AND COMMUNIST ORGANISATIONS HAVE HELD NUMEROUS INDOOR RALLIES AND OTHER FUNCTIONS. IN THE ABSENCE SO FAR OF ANY PRONOUNCEMENTS, OTHER THAN THE INITIAL PRESS COMMUNIQUE, EMANATING FROM THE CONGRESS, LOCAL SPEECHES HAVE LARGELY BEEN CONFINED TO EXUBERANT PRAISE OF THE PROCEEDINGS THEMSELVES AS HERALDING THE SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION OF THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION AND THE EMERGENCE OF A UNIFIED NATION UNDER MAO SEMICOLON ONLY PASSING REFERENCES
HAVE BEEN MADE TO HONG KONG AND THE WEST. ALTHOUGH EVERY EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE BY THE COMMUNISTS TO CREATE A FESTIVE MOOD, THE GENERAL PUBLIC HAS REMAINED, ON THE SURFACE AT ANY RATE, RELATIVELY INDIFFERENT TO THE OCCASION. A FEW SMALL SPONTANEOUS PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS BY COMMUNISTS ON 2ND APRIL WERE SHORT- LIVED SEMICOLON SUBSEQUENTLY COMMUNIST LEADERS AGAIN EMPHASISED THAT THERE MUST BE NO CLASHES WITH SECURITY FORCES. FESTIVITIES ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE UNTIL AFTER THE CLOSURE OF THE CONGRESS,
THE DATE OF WHICH IS NOT KNOWN.
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RECEIVED N ARCHIVES M● 31
- Ark 1969
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