CO537-5142 — Page 329

TIAL.

96834/19/40.

.

Colonial Office,

Palace Chambers,

Bridge Street,

5.4. 1.

31st March 1948.

eur Milcher,

Thank you for your letter, reference Pa 256/230/301, of the 17th

17th February, about bros icast1. fron Hong Kong.

I must confuza to some surprise at your first reason for preferring melium to short wages for the coverage of outh China from Hong Kong. The Voreign Office must of course be the judge of probable Chinese Taction to a long istance service of this kina; but the Chinese in Shina woulä be more naive than I had imagined if they were to interpret aз nothing more than the improvement of liong Kong's domestic broadcasting service such developments as an incre: se of power from two to fifty or mor: kilowatts, the intro...uction or ditionul languages such na rench, Portuguese, linkka akakit andarin, and the inclusion of programe vaterial aspecially designed to attract an mutence octalue Houg Long. I would have thought that these would be such unmistakable signs of the wider target that the question of the relative political Cerita o short makak edium waves would be academia unless of course there is some psycholovical factor, coucerned with the thinere conception of their own prestige, which operates contrary to ren802.

B

That a powerful short-wave signal will iù due co...86 Dusch Shina from the British Par stern Grondessting station in balaya i by the Jovernment of Hong ong. understand, that, owing to its

of course appreciated But it believes, loreness in several

/senses