Cypher/Cat.A
SECRET
TOP COPY 491
ни
COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (DT RECEIVED IN
PRIORITY HONG KONG
ΤΟ
Telbo. 1421
21 September 1967
SECRET
Addressed Commonwealth Office telegram No. 1421
of 21 September.
Repeated for information to Paris.
Paris telegram No. 903 to Foreign Office:
ARCHIVE. 63 22 SEP1967
Host/17
Chinese Policy.
I am sure that you will not give undue weight to
M. Paye's gloomy prognostications about Hong Kong, which he has not visited for a considerable time. Basically, he seems to over-estimate the ability and desire of Peking to control the situation here. It is now four months since the C.P.G. first came out in support of the local Communists' "demands", and there has since been ample opportunity by intimidation and propaganda to subvert the Chinese population. Instead, the local Communists' campaign has been haphazard and ill-directed; and there is a good deal of evidence that they have been dissatisfied with the amount of assistance they have received from across the border. Far from the Chinese population coming gradually under Communist control, it is clear (as for example circulation figures for the local pro-Communist Press indicate) that the Communists have been steadily losing support. The present bomb campaign, which fluctuates in intensity from week to week, is disagreeable, but it is having little effect on the daily life of the Colony: indeed, one of the principal dangers at the moment is that Chinese bystanders tend to assemble at the scene of bomb incidents as if they were watching a firework display so that unnecessary casualties result.
2. At present the principal threat to the Colony appears to be the risk of long-term economic stagnation caused by reluctance to invest while conditions remain unsettled. There are, however, various indications (see paragraph 6 of my telegram No.1406) that, contrary to M. Paye's suggestion, the Communists are now beginning to count the cost of their campaign here and are making efforts once again to build up their earnings in Hong Kong.
It is possible that this is only a temporary phenomenon connected with their wish to gain broad support for their celebrations of the 1 October and to encourage visitors from abroad to the Canton Autumn Trade Fair. However, if the policy of reviving trade with Hong Kong is pursued, it will become more difficult subsequently for the Communists to revert to the aim of making the Colony an "economic desert", and to encourage terrorist activities that might have the same effect.
O.A.G.
Please pass Paris as my telegram No. M572.
Sent 09092/21 September 1967 Read. 0917Z/21 September 1967
[Repeated as requested]
DEPARTMENTAL DISTRIBUTION
►
C.O. H.K. Dept.
F.E.P.D.
SSSSS
LAST
F.0.
F.E.D.
REF.
D.D. & P.U.S.D.
News Dept
NEXT
SECRET
"PROD
REF.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.