+
-
9.
(iii) their violence is of a most morbid type,
consisting of intimidation, extortion
and murder, and they have achieved nothing
but death, destruction and distress.
In Singapore and the Federation Operational considerations and the need to avoid building up the prestige of the enemy must determine local publicity. On the one hand it may be undesirable to suggest the Russian backing of the enemy's strength: on the other there may be advantage in demonstrating that he is just the agent of the Kremlin's new imperialism.
It is clear that a most effective line of propaganda
so far as the Chinese community are concerned is to point the moral locally of what is happening in the region of China with which they have close family and traditional ties. News of conditions in China filtering through private channels is already having a considerable effect among the Overseas Chinese. This publicity should be
amplified by all discreet means, mind that the Chinese in South-East Asia are most suspicious of Western attempts to prejudice them against the Peking Government; and the hand of the white man must therefore be kept as far as possible in the background, so that the news reaches the public apparently through Asian channels, and much will depend on the reputation for trustworthiness
which these channels maintain.
but it must be borne in
It is also important to
avoid disseminating obviously false information or Kuomintang propaganda which will compromise the channels used. Distribution of publicity through overt channels need not be entirely excluded if no other means are available; and this must be left to the discretion of the authorities on
the spot.
It should be possible to bring home the bad conditions in China without actually attacking the Peking
/Government