CONFIDENTIAL

difference between a group of films under that title being shown at the City Hall or at a private cinema. Was Mr Tan saying that the Government should not allow anyone to show a group of films made in Taiwan under such a title? Mr Tan thought that the Hong Kong Government should take such steps because it was clear that this

Dr Wilson affair was a Taiwan propaganda exercise. said that he could understand Mr Tan's anxiety about the two films he had mentioned and the possible objection to the City Hall being used for a Taiwan film festival, but he found the suggestion that the Hong Kong Government should in effect ban all showings of films from Taiwan surprising and unacceptable. If the two films mentioned were submitted to the censors and it appeared that they were designed to make damaging political propaganda against a friendly nation, they were unlikely to be given a licence, although Dr Wilson could not of course pre-judge the censors decision. It must be understood that the Hong Kong Government could not ban every film from Taiwan nor could it prevent a privately owned cinema from showing, under whatever title it chose,

a series of films which had been passed for public viewing.

After Dr Wilson

5.

Mr Tan said that individual commercial films from Taiwan posed no problem. But heavy political propaganda films subsidized by the Taiwan authorities were now being made available in Hong Kong. He mentioned a film called 'bi she wang shi' (phonetic) which sought to portray the KMT as the true successors of the 1911 revolution. Mr Tan said the decision to refuse permission for the use of Government facilities was helpful. But if Taiwan films were to be shown without distinguishing between propaganda films and commercial films this would still have a harmful political effect. had repeated that there were limits to the Hong Kong Government's freedom of action, Mr Tan said that the Chinese people were trying to unite all of China's territory. They wished to avoid the use of force where Taiwan was concerned. If KMT propaganda was allowed to flourish in Hong Kong in spite of good Hong Kong - China relations, this would hinder the Chinese people's attempt to unite their motherland. Mr Wang Kuang, First Director NCNA, had said to Mr Tan that allowing the KMT to get a foothold in Hong Kong and develop their propaganda

China would hamper the development of Hong Kong relations. This caused Mr Wang Kuang to wonder whether the Hong Kong Government's attitude to this question was correct.

6.

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Dr Wilson said that Mr Tan should tell Mr Wang Kuang that he should have no doubts about the Hong Kong Government's attitude to China as whole. This should be particularly clear to Mr Wang from the general trend of relations over the past few

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CONFIDENTIAL

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