12
SECRET
OUTWARD TELEGRAM
FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
(The Secretary of State)
TO HONG KONG (Sir D. Trench)
AR
20
HIWA 3/
IN
· 63
Cypher
Sent 16th January 1967.
IMMEDIATE
SECRET
No.100
Our telegram No.94.
Macau.
23.45 hrs.
LAST
REF.
NEXI
REF.
On evening of 14th January we put to Portuguese Ambassador the questions listed in paragraph 4 of telegram under reference, and he responded as follows:-
(a) He had little to add. He did not know what the
new Chinese demands were, but his government thought that the Chinese were stepping up their demands unreasonably, were puzzled to know what Chinese objectives now were, and "could not exclude the possibility of violent action by the Chinese". He agreed rather reluctantly to tell his government that we would be interested to have fuller information but said that he would think it desirable to present the point in such a way as to avoid any implication that our response to the Portuguese request would be considered in the light of our judgment of the wisdom of their tactics in the negotiations.
(b)
(૩)
He was confident that no decision to evacuate had been taken and that none would be taken until the last practicable moment and after every effort had been made to negotiate a settlement. The Portuguese request to us was part of what we would call contingency planning.
He had asked for information from Lisbon. But he thought that it would be hard to tell in advance how many civilians would wish to leave Macau,
(d) The overwhelming majority of the persons involved
would be Portuguese nationals. He repeated what he had said earlier to Sir J. Rennie, that there might be others who would apply for evacuation, but on this occasion suggested that these persons would not in any case be more than a handful. As regards race he observed with emphasis that the Portuguese admitted no distinction between Portuguese nationals. But most of the persons concerned would look like Chinese.
SECRET
/(e)
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