CONFIDENTIAL
provoke China to open interventicn, forcible or otherwise, in support of their followers. It is a tightrope that the Hong Kong
Government have walked with some skill and no more so than in
the disturbances of 1967.
Events cf 1967
J
4. From May
December 1967 the Communists mounted a continuous
campaign of demonstrations, riots, stoppages of work and ultimately of indiscriminate violence (including the planting of bombs in public places). 51 persons died and 832 were injured
as a direct result. The object was to disrupt the life and economy of the Colony and, as earlier in Macao, to reduce the Hong Kong Government to a position of subservience to Communist
domination.
5. There is no evidence whatever to suggest that the disturbances
were deliberately provoked by the Peking Government.
It is far
In the
more likely that they resulted from an overspill of the cultural
revolution in China and were inspired by the local communists on
their own initiative under the impression that in taking this
course they would receive the full backing of Peking.
event, such backing as they did receive from that quarter was
confined mainly to propaganda with some financial assistance to
the trade unions.
6. The general public of Hong Kong gave strong and solid support
to the Hong Kong authorities in the measures taken to deal with
this campaign. The communists completely failed to achieve their aim of undermining the authority of the Hong Kong Government and
their indiscriminate use cf violence succeeded only in
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CONFIDENTIAL