CODE 18-77
SS 8/78
CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Webb HK&GD
LAZYME
Reference
H.RK 02011
DOOX INDEX
PA
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PA
(itt vels, with
Chase).
بسام
44
/7.
HONG KONG AND MACAO WORK GROUP
1. You asked if we had any collateral for the reference to this work group carried in the Hong Kong magazine East and West (February issue). I return your copy of Dr Wilson's letter of 20 March with the article attached.
2. We have not been able to find any direct collateral for the creation of this group. However, a letter by Mr Friar of 24 March 1980 (copied to you) on new appointments, may throw a little light. Mr Friar quotes an article in the South China Morning Post of 15 March 1980 which suggests that Peng Chong, Mayor of Shanghai and a member of the CCP Politbureau and Secretariat, has been entrusted with responsibility for overseeing relations with Hong Kong and Macao, a job previously held by Liao Chengzhi. The implication is that Peng will be director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.
3. According to the South China Morning Post, Liao is to retire this year and is gradually handing over his Hong Kong and Macao duties to Peng Chong, though he has agreed to stay on as adviser to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, of which he has been director. Liao is said to be in ill health and, the article says, to judge himself incapable of handling the expansion of trade links with Hong Kong that has been brought about by the creation of new economic zones in Guangdong and Fujian.
4. The East and West article gives some information on the leader- ship of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Group, without, however, naming anyone. I have not so far been able to make any satisfactory identification, on the basis of the few details given, of who the director and political adviser might be. However,
However, neither descrip- tion appears to fit Peng Chong.
5. The two press articles under discussion, taken together, would suggest that reorganisation of the apparatus for developing China's relations with Hong Kong and Macao has been under way. The reportedly wide range of participation in the formation of the new work group, taking in Party, state, diplomatic, trade and military organs, indicates that the emphasis may no longer be primarily on political and propaganda work in Hong Kong and Macao. Greater acknowledgement is apparently being given to the varied aspects of China's dealings with the two territories. Responsibility for overseeing China's relations with Hong Kong and Macao would now also seem to rest at a higher level. Peng Chong is of considerably higher standing than Liao Chengzhi. If he is to be director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, the status of that body will be correspondingly enhanced.
VAST PAPER
7 July 1980
5. Pares
S Pares (Ms)
Far Eastern Section Research Department
CONFIDENTIAL