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C.P.G.-owned presses. We are at present considering a proposal by the
Governor to introduce emergency regulations to deal with mosquito sheets.
Delicate sources report that Communist newspaper circles are planning to replace
the three suspended newspapers by re-publishing a defunct local newspaper or by
establishing a new newspaper in Macao for circulation in Hong Kong.
Border Incidents
9. There have been a number of border incidents, usually involving Chinese
civilians, many of whom work fields in British territory. After two particularly
unpleasant episodes at Man Kam To, the main road-crossing point, the frontier
was temporarily closed. There have also been incidents against border
installations at the railway crossing point, Lo Wu, and at Sha Tau Kok, where
early in August five policemen were killed.
But it is clear
10. In general the Peoples Liberation Army has sought to prevent border incidents
by seeking to control the mass movement of Chinese civilians.
that the Army will not go beyond a certain point, after which the soldiers stand
back and let the people through. Recently there have been indications that the
Chinese troops were showing a more relaxed attitude to the border situation, and
that they have calmed down militants: their control of the border seems to have
become more effective during the past few days.
11.
Because of these incursions and because of reports of unsettled conditions
in Kwangtung Province which could produce a repetition of the 1962 influx of
refugees, the Hong Kong Government have put in hand the building of a 30 ft.
wide barbed wire barrier along the length (but well to the south) of the border
line.
Food and Water Supplies
12.
The border disturbances and the unsettled state of Kwangtung Province have
caused food supplies from China to be erratic. There is no indication of any
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