SAVINGRAM 350
To the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
From the
net, Hong Kong.
9657375350
(R) Comm. Gen.,Singapore 194
13
Date
October. 1950
135
No....
TOP SECRET
4A2046575/35 C
My Top Secret Savingram 104 of 26th August and F.0. Telegram 1139 of the 5th October to Singapore. U.S.I.S. Activities.
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U.S. I. S. Hong Kong has a staff of six Americans and some forty Chinese employees. Its director Mr. H. S. Hudson is also acting as director of U.S. I. S. China office which retains a skeleton organisation here. Present activities include
2.
(a) Distribution of magazines and pamphlets in Chinese locally
and in South East Asia.
(b) Film showings to local students, factory workers, etc.
(c) Concerts of recorded gramophone music
(d) Provision of library and reading room facilities.
It is in connection with (a) that U.S.I. S. activities give me some cause for concern. During Mr. Goodfriend's visit here he and Mr. Hudson stated in conversation with R. I. 0. representative Hong Kong that, as a result of a recent policy decision in Washington, U. S. I. S. intended to conduct anti-communist propaganda on a large scale in the Far East and had been assured of fullest co-operation of R. I. O. Singapore in this connection. They moreover made it clear that U.S. I. S. would like to use Hong Kong as a base for distribution of such material into China.
3.
There have recently been two further indications of their intentions in this respect. Two months ago U. S. L. S. purchased two thousand copies of booklets in Chinese produced by R. I. O. representative Hong Kong and it has now come to our knowledge that a number of these were despatched by mail from Macau into China by U. S. I. S., together with leaflets stating that further copies could be obtained from a P. O. Box number in Macau, Response to this is said to have been encouraging and requests for additional supplies have been received from the interior of China. Secondly U.S. I. S. recently suggested using local Chinese commercial associations and associations of natives of particular Chinese provinces who are resident in Hong Kong, as a medium of distribution of both overt and covert publicity material to China and Chinese communities in South East Asia, and asked the Secretary for Chinese Affairs to provide a list of associations suitable for the purpose, This request was very properly referred to me for instruction.
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In these circumstances I felt it advisable to see Mr. Wilkinson, the U.S. Consul General here, and explain to him that it was our policy that Hong Kong should not be used as a base for anti-communist propaganda. I said that whilst I was sure Mr. Hudson was acting in all good faith, it was preferable that proposals involving important policy considerations should be raised at a high level and not discussed directly with heads of departments, who could not deal with them until questions had been properly discussed and policy implications considered.
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Mr. Wilkinson said that he had little detailed knowledge of Mr. Hudson's activities but that he fully agreed as regards method of approach on policy matters and would so inform Mr. Hudson. I emphasized that we wish to cooperate with U.S. I. S. but that everything we did in this respect must be within the framework of our policy. I also mentioned to him unofficially a recent incident in which Mr. Hudson had invited the
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