CO537-5116 — Page 158

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37. In many cases, en exchange of bulletins is effected instead of payment of subscription fees.

OVERSEAS BRANCHES.

38. A diagram showing what purports to be the world layout of offices of the NEW CHINA NEWS AGENCY is given in Annexure 1, in the main extremely meagre and of a negative nature, are attached as Appendices

Details about these offices, N, inclusive. In addition, a usually reliable source has reported recently that WONG has received a request from an Indian in Borbay that he may be commissioned to organise a NEW CHIN. NEWS AGENCY there.

D

CONCLUSIONS.

39.

London Office.

(a) That the NEW CHINA NEWS AGENCY is an organisation controlled directly in London, and indirectly from China, by Communists cannot be denied. In London, the two senior members of the staff, Raymond WONG and Jack CHEN are closely associated with the British Communist Party; in Hong Kong (the branch which appears to act as the link between London and the Chinese Communist Party Headquarters the members of the agency are known to belong to the Chinese Communist Party.

(b) WONG claims he receives a great deal of support for his bulletins from many Chinese in England. Whether this support is genuine, or only proferred so as to make the individual a persona grate with the Chinese Communists if and when they come into power, is a matter for conjecture. At the beginning of 1949 it did not look as if the London Branch of the China News Agency could count on more than some hundred subscribers to its bulletins amongst the Chinese population in the United Kingdom and on more than some 75 amongst other elements of the public. However, in March, 1949, it was reliably reported that about 700 copies of the weekly bulletin were distributed weekly, At the same time an increase in the Daily bulletin circulation was also reported, copies being sent as far afield as Argentine, Canada and America,

(c) Possibly as a reflection of the somewhat unsatisfactory reception accorded to the propaganda put out by the New China News Agency in the U.K., efforts are being made by the London branch to spread the Chinese Communist Party 'gospel' wherever there is a ready audience in Europe and elsewhere overseas. The signs are that the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece has increased its public recently mainly because there has been little competition from any other News Service able 'effectively' to describe the Chinese scene, and because the news releases have been greatly speeded up.

40. European Offices.

(a) There is no firm evidence that the New China News Agency has established offices in any European country except Czechoslovakia, As has already been noted, the London Office distributes its bulletins to most European countries and it seems reasonable to assume that this will continue to be the procedure, at any rate until the financial situation improves. Establishment of an office in each European country would involve a considerable increase in expenditure, and at the same time greatly reduce the circulation of the bulletins published in London, thereby increasing the London Office's financial difficulties.

/(b) Evidence points

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