Yu Hang

arrived 24.9.65.

2.

Lin Ching

#

24.9.65.

3. Ching Hui-ch'in

3.4.64.

.

4.

Li Fu

"

12.7.63.

5. Wang Tuan-sheng

13.11.64.

I

DA NEWS AGENCY

15 May

-

BULLETIN

Statement of Chinese Foreign Ministry of 15 May.

"On the afternoon of May 6, 1967, Chinese workers

of the Hong Kong Sanpo Kong Artificial Plastic Flower

works launched a struggle against intensified capitalist

exploitation. To shield capital and suppress labour,

the British authorities in Hong Kong brazenly turned

out on the same day more than two hundred armed policemen

and "riot police," sanguinarily suppressing the workers

of the factory and other Chinese residents, beating and

wounding many of them and arresting twenty-one persons.

Afterwards, they also arrested the President of the

Federation of the Rubber and Plastic Trade Unions and

Workers' Representatives, who went to a Hong Kong police

atation to protest. On the afternoon of the 11th, the

British authorities in Hong Kong carried out another

sanguinary suppression on an even bigger scale by turning

loose on the bare-handed workers, representatives of

various circles and young students large numbers of armed troops,
policemen and "riot police" totalling more than 1,000, who repeatedly
attacked then with clubs, riot

guns and tear bombs and even turning out military vehicles

and helicopters. Many persons (including newsreel camera-

men and journalists) were arrested. After the 12th, the

/British

-2-

British authorities in Hong Kong atill continued large-

scale arrests of the demonstrating masses. By the

morning of the 14th, more than 400 have been arrested.

At present, the situation is still being aggravated.

It must be pointed out that these large-scale

sanguinary atrocities perpetrated by the British author-

ities in Hong Kong are the result of long premeditation

and are a component part of the British Government's

scheme of collusion with U.S. imperialiam against China.

On the one hand, in co-ordination with the U.S. imperialist

war escalation in Vietnam, the British Government is

continuing to provide the United States with Hong Kong

as a base for aggression against Vietnam in disregard of

the repeated solemn warnings of the Chinese Government,

and on the other, it is steadily stepping up various hostile

measures against China in Hong Kong. Particularly since

the unfolding of the great proletarian Cultural Revolution

in China, the British authorities in Hong Kong have carried

out repeated military and police manoeuvres hostile to China

and aimed at the sanguinary suppression of Chinese residents

in Hong Kong, vainly attempting to exclude the great influ-

ence of China's great proletarian Cultural Revolution by

high-handed tactics. The persecution of Chinese residents

and workers by the British authorities in Hong Kong by

making use of the labour-capital dispute of the Artificial

Plastic Flower works is a big exposure of this criminal

plan of sanguinary suppression. Their Fascist atrocities

have aroused boundless indignation among the Chinese

/residents

-3-

residents in Hong Kong and the entire Chinese people.

The Chinese Government hereby lodges the most urgent

and the strongest protest with the British Government

against these atrocities.

The sanguinary atrocities wholly perpetrated by

the British authorities in Hong Kong show that they

mortally fear and bitterly hate China's great proletarian

Cultural Revolution. This great revolutionary movement

which is without parallel in history has dealt a telling

blow to imperialism, modern revisionism and world reaction,

completely shattered their dream of counter-revolutionary

capitalist restoration in China and greatly encouraged

and impelled the liberation struggles of the oppressed

peoples and oppressed nations of the whole world. In

particular, this great revolutionary movement has caused

our Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong to love still more

ardently the thought of Mao Tse-tung and they are vigorously

unfolding the movement of creative study and application

of Chairman Mao's works. Armed with the ever-victorious

thought of Mao Tse-tung, the masses of our patriotic com-

patriots are more militant than even in fighting imperialism.

Frightened out of their wits by this, the British author-

ities in Hong Kong vainly attempted by violent suppression

to restrict the influence of Hao Tse-tung's thought and

to maintain their control, and thus committed the barbarous

Fascist atrocities."

/16 May

-4-

16 May

Following is the full text of a commentator's

article in the "People's Daily" on May 15, entitled

"The British Authorities in Hong Kong Must Rein in on

the Brink":

"The British authorities in Hong Kong have in the

past few days turned out large numbers of troops, police

and "riot police" and carried out bloody suppression

and frantic persecution of Chinese workers, representatives

of various circles and young students in Hong Kong.

As

a result, over 400 patriotic Chinese in Hong Kong were

arrested or brutally beaten up, and one of them died from

his injuries.

Boundless indignation and the most vehement protests

have been voiced by our Government and our entire people

at these Fascist atrocities perpetrated by the British

authorities in Hong Kong.

The sanguinary outrages staged by the British author-

ities in Hong Kong are carefully deliberated, organised

and planned atrocities, and they represent an insensate

provocation of the Chinese people on the part of the British

Government. Over the recent period, the British Government,

ignoring our Government's repeated warnings, has been

intensifying its efforts in the service of the U.S. aggressive

war against Vietnam, making available the use of the British

military installations in Hong Kong. It has also put into

effect many measures hostile towards our country and, trail-

ing in the wake of the U.S. imperialism, has carried out

/unbridled

-5-

unbridled anti-China activities.

In daring to set

itself up against the 700 million Chinese people and

serving as an anti-China hatchetman of U.S. imperialism,

the British Government can achieve only one end: that

ia, to lift a rock only to drop on its own feet."

24 HAT British Hong Kong Authorities perpetrate new

Fascist Atrocities in Hong Kong and Kowloon:

"At least 200 Chinese compatriots were killed or

seriously wounded in Hong Kong and Kowloon on May 22 as

the British authorities sent thousands of "riot police"

into the streets to slaughter workers and staff of Chinese

organisations in Hong Kong and compatriots of various

circles.

Many more suffered light injuries in the new bloody

Fascist atrocities. According to greatly minimised atat-

istics issued by the British authorities in Hong Kong on

the morning of May 23, 363 personnel of Chinese organis-

ations in Hong Kong and other compatriots were unreasonably

arrested on May 22. Nearly 200 of them were secretly

arrested by British Hong Kong special agents in the small

hours.

Arthur

The May 22 bloody incident occurred the day after

the British Government sent three big-shots

Galsworthy, Deputy Under-Secretary of State in the Common-

wealth Office; W. S. Carter, Head of the Hong Kong

Department of the Commonwealth Office, and E. Bolland,

Head of the Far Eastern Department in the Foreign Office

/to

-6-

to Hong Kong on May 21 to "discuss" the present

situation in Hong Kong with the British Hong Kong

'governor" David Trench. The British Government and

the British Hong Kong authorities can never evade

their responsibility. They are fully responsible for

the bloody incidents since May 4 including those of

May 6, May 11 and May 22, and for all the grave consequ-

ences arising therefrom",

May 24

-

Peking Rally Condemns British Fascist

Atrocities in Hong Kong:

"About 100,000 revolutionary people of all circles

in Peking held a rally on the afternoon of May 18 to

condem the British Government and the British author-

ities in Hong Kong for their fascist crime of bloody_

suppression of Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong. The

rally voiced resolute support for the May 15 statement

issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Thunderous shouts of "The British imperialists must repay their blood
debts!", "We pledge to give powerful

backing to the patriotic compatriots in Hong Kong!",

"Strike down anyone who dares to oppose the patriotic

compatriots in Hong Kong in studying and propagating

Mao Tse-tung's thought!", and "Those who oppose China will

come to no good end!", filled the Peking Workers' Stadium

throughout the rally,

The atrocities of the British Hong Kong authorities

in suppressing patriotic Chinese in Hong Kong by armed

/force

-7-

force have aroused tremendous anger among the

revolutionary masses in the Chinese capital.

More

than a million Peking residents demonstrated before

the British Chargé d'Affaires' Office in Peking during

the past few days.

Today's mass rally sternly warned the British

imperialists that they would come to no good and in

their collusion with U.S. imperialism and the Chiang

Kai-shek gang to oppose China, and that they would

never succeed by using violence in limiting the influence

of the great thought of Mao Tse-tung."

20

Reference

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THE GOMA

Registry No.

DRAFT

Submission

Type 1 +

To:

From

Mr. Bolland

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Mr. de la Vare

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ACTION AGAINST THE N-W CHINA NELS AGENCY

1

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Off. de in More's

5 June

sched submission/deals with the

problem of whether or not to take action

against the London Offices of the New China News Agency (NCNA), The
Secretary of State

has alread, agreed to talk to the Home

Secretary about this as soon as possible.

Since that submission was written a more

CHEB

immediate roblem has arisen.-

is dis-

cussed below.

Problem

2.

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The Chinese applied for a visa for

Chinese

a few member of the NCMA office in London

has been I June A decision on this visa as held

in suspense while waiting a ministerial

decision on the whole question of the NČNA

Office in Londón. It has already been recom-

mended that in talking to the Home Secretary,

the Secretary of State should seek his

agreement to take urgent action against the

NONA Office if necessary but no immediate

action is foreseen. We must now decide

what to do about the one visa application

hich is pending.

Recommendation

I recommend that the visa should be

Karm-11

3.

Japore of

approved sithouch

further two weeks.

+

further period of

/news

two

Ske,

Background and Argueent

4.

The number of Chinese staff working

at the London Office of NCNA at the beginning

or May

ty was eight. Three of these left for

Peking on

26

May On I Finge

we received a

vise application for one replacement. A

decision on this was held up since Ministers

were then discussing the question of whether

to take action against the NCNA Office as a

whole.

5.

In dealing with this visa application

there are three possible lines of action:

(a) we can refuse to grant the visa;

(b) we can grant it after a further

6.

delay; M

(c) we can grant the vise immediately.

If we refuse to grant a visa we are

not obliged to give any reasons to the Chinese

but it would be the first occasion on which we

the

had done so for many years and we could

expect the Chinese to retaliate in some way

They might either cause difficulties for Reuters correspondent resident
in Peking

(e.g.suspending his residence permit or

refusing to grant an exit permit etc.) or they

might take action directly against one of our

diplomatic staff. In such a situation there

is a strong possibility that we would become

involved in a battle of visa refusals out of

which we would be the most likely losers since

our staff in Peking, with its limited number

of Chinese speakers, is more vulnerable than

the Chinese here. There is also the possibility

/that

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that such a visa battle might spill over into

other spheres and cause farther administrative

harassment for our office in Peking.

7. If we impose a further delay

approving or

this via the Chinese may

before

again reciprocate/in some fay against/our

Vission in Péking but are likely to do so (in a len drastic farther.

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to the Chinese

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on a vise war. Nor do I consider that we

should allɗw a new NCNA man in without

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In

Wil

Mr Bollantil

COVERING SECRET

RECEIVE ARCHIVES No90 5.

JUL 1967

F23/201

I attach a record of the meeting between Mr. Rodgers and the Home
Secretary about the possible expulsion of the New China News Agency.

Richard Sammel

(R.C. Samuel) 30 May, 1967.

ce Mode la thane

it Bolland

Av. Denson

Pl. attach the

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in preparing the latest Submimmi

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SECRET

RECENE WH

ARCHIVES NE31

3 JUL 1967

F23/1/2010

Possible expiusion of New China News Agency

Discussion between Mr. Rodgers and Mr. Jenkins

Those Present:-

Mr. Roy Jenkins, M.P. Mr. John Harris

Officials

Mr. Willian Rodgers, M.P.,

The meeting took place in the Home Office at 5.30 p.m. on 25 May,

Mr. Rodgers explained that we wished to consider expelling some or all
of the staff of the New China News Agency from London as retaliation for
the outrages recently commited by the Chinese.

2.

Mr. Jenkins said that the Home Office had never so far expelled
journalists from London for political reasons; the then Home Secretary
had declined à request from the Commonwealth Secretary some years
previously to expelt a Greek journalist who had been writing stories
which amounted to incitement to violence in Cyprus. If, as ne assumed,
our expulsion of the N.C.N.A. was intended as a public relations
exercise, he considered that the Government would get a very bad press.
Mr. Jenkins thought that the press would take a poor view of journalists
being ejected rather than diplomats, when the reason was basically a
diplomatic

one.

3. Mr. Rodgers pointed out (i) that we needed to consider appropriate
measures against the Chinese which would make clear our indignation at
their recent activities. But we did not wish to do anytning which would
have unacceptable consequences for our Mission in Peking or for Hong
Kong. Expulsion of Chinese dipomats from London would, we thought,
escalate and we should be the losers; (ii) that recent N.C.N.A.
propaganda had been unacceptably abusive; it went far beyond the proper
activities of a news agency; and the completely false report of 200
deaths in the Hong Kong disturbances had almost certainly contributed to
the violent treatment of the British diplomats in Shanghai.

/^.

SECRET

SECRET

4.

Un (i) above, Mr. Jenkins asked if we could be sure that only the
Reuters representative in Peking would be expelled as
counter-retaliation. Was there not a danger

that expulsion of N.C.N.A. would escalate anyway? Mr. John Harris
pointed out that the Reuter's man in Peking was very highly thought of
and that the reaction to his removal as a result of Britisn Government
action would probably be strong. On (ii) Mr. Jenkins said he was dubious
about the value of expelling Chinese journalists from London when the
places affected by the recent distur bances had been Shanghai and Hong
Kong.

5. An official then pointed out another difficulty which the Home Office
saw in expelling members of the N.C.N.A. in London. If our aim was to
stop the operation of the agency, we nad to face the fact that the Home
Office had no powers to close it down as such; and there would be
nothing to stop the Chinese from recruiting more staff from the 2,500
Chinese resident in England.

6. Mr. Jenkins asked if our purpose would not be served by expelling the
Information Officer or some other diplomat from the Chinese Mission
here. Mr. Rodgers repeated our view that the danger of "diplomatic
escalation" was unacceptable. Mr. Jenkins then argued (on the lines of
the Times leader of 25 May) that our best posture would be to play the
thing cool. Would not expulsion of the N.C.N.A. be a rather inadequate
gesture? He then reiterated the difficulties that might be created for
us by appeals against expulsion to the London magistrates.

7. There was then some discussion about the possibility of not renewing
the permits of N.C.N.A. officials when they were due to be replaced. The
problem here was that we needed to be able to make a quick gesture if we
were to do anything at all. When the time eventually came for the Home
Secretary to justify his refusal to renew a permit for a Chinese
journalist the case would have become stale and justification would be
that much more difficult.

8. Mr. Jenkins asked what damage expulsion of the N.C.N.A. from London
would do to Peking. Mr. Rodgers described the importance to them of
their operation in Africa which was largely controlled from the London
office. Mr. Jenkins's point about "playing it cool" Mr. Rodgers

On

SECRET

/said

SECRET

1

said we should bear in mind the damage the Portuguese had done to their
position in Macao by not reacting with sufficient firmness to Chinese
provocations.

9. Mr. Jenkins asked for Mr. Rodgers's views on a possible time-table if
it was decided to pursue the idea of expelling N.C.N.A. staff in spite
of the difficulties he had outlined. Mr. Rodgers said it would depend on
the view the Secretary of State took of the situation when he returned
from Moscow. If there were no further Chinese outrages it was possible
that he would not wish to take any action for the moment. If there were,
Mr. Brown would probably wish to move quickly.

<

Richard Jamuel

(R.U.Samuel)

26 May, 1967

la

see later

later submis

SECRET

led

14/2

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