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CONFIDENTIAL
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7.
No action has yet been taken against the major Communist organs,
but three of the smaller newspapers have been suspended for six months
by direction of the Courts and a number of persons connected with their
publication have been sentenced for sedition. The remaining Communist
Press continues to advocate violence. Communist reporters continue to
be found in circumstances indicating they are doing more than report the
riots, demonstrations, etc., and further arrests have been inevitable.
8. The closure of the three newspapers was followed by the introduction
of Gestetnered broadsheets, distributed free and containing extracts from
other local Communist and Peking newspapers, incitements to violence and
threats to notables. They are produced in widely-scattered premises, some
undoubtedly in C.P.G.-owned presses. We are at present considering a
proposal by the Governor to introduce emergency regulations to deal with
mosquito sheets.
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.
10. In general the Peoples Liberation Army has sought to prevent border
incidents by seeking to control the mass movement of Chinese civilians.
But it is clear 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.
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-foot wide barbed wire barrier along the length (but well to the south) of the border line.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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