Draft for S/s. speech in
Common on 241.168
32
HONG KONG
We shall of course continue to provide for the defence of
Hong Kong after our withdrawal from Malaysia and Singapore,
As has already been said in the House, there is no question of
reducing the strength or the effectiveness of the garrison in
the Colony; and we shall retain the capability to reinforce
it, if the need should arise, from the United Kingdom
Recent events in liong Kong indicate that the local
communists are changing their tacties in their confrontation
with the authorities. Their use of indiscriminate violence
in past months has served only to alienate the sympathies of
the general public who have made it quite clear that they
wholeheartedly support the forces of law and order.
Accordingly it seems likely that the main communist effort
vill henceforth be directed to the conduct of a long tera
ideological struggle for the hearts and minds of the people
of the Colony. This change in tactics may not appeal to the
more extreme local communist alements and isolated sets of
violence may well continue.
The economy of Hong Kong has suffered surprisingly little
from the disturbances, Provisional figures of the value of
domestic exports for 1967 show an increase of some 17% over
1966; re-exports and imports an increase of 14% and 4%
/respectively ...
internal briefing file.
ED IN
No.63
73 JAN 1968
R.318.
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