HARISK
K 1
4.0 - 4.10 p.m.
WALKER
MR. THORPE:
While agreeing with what the h Lady has
said about the police in Hong Kong, and whatever may have been
the external political influences that arose, wld she not agree
that two causes of the frustratn are first the appalling housing
the ed conditns in places like Lion Rock town, and Wall City in and Aberdeen, Whatever may have been the housg achievements of
the past? Secondly, there is the fact that in a British colony
of 4 milln, not a single solitary soul has a vote, save for
10 members of the town council. If direct electns, ax for
cold war reasons, are impractical, cld we not move toward
some fom of indirect electns?
MRS. HART: This is where it is of the utmost relevance
that we get the opinions of representative organisatns and
individuals in Hong Kong on proposals now under consideratn for
changes in local govt. This wild introduce much of the kind of
thing which the rh G has in mind.
There is no indicatn,
May I make one thing quite clear.
paradoxical though it may seem, that either concern about the
degree of democratic representatn in Hong Kong or concern about
the workg conditns have been among the motivatns at this time.
be
of
deep
They may play a part in the long-term background, but there is
no im icatn that it has been at this time anything other than
what my h F has said, a certain degree of political motivatn
arising mainly from the ferment of ideas that is takg place
in that part of the world.
MR. SANDYS:
Will the Minr tell us to what extent
available informatn suggests that any of this trouble was
instigated by the Govt in Peking or other authorities in
Communist China?
MRS. HART: All of our indicatrs are that the origins
were in Hong Kong. These were local Communis ts in Hong Kong who
took opportunities wh they saw arising from a genuine labour
dispute. Certainly there was later official Chinese Communist
organisational involvement. For example, the Bank of China was
one of the headquarters of Chinese propaganda but in the early
stages, as far as we can see, although it is very difficult to know
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.