CONFIDENTIAL
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staff of the Consulate were withdrawn from Macao on the
next day since their personal safety was in jeopardy.
5.
The situation in Macao is still extremely turbulent and likely to remain so for some time to come. The Portu- guese authorities are unable to control the situation and the colony is virtually in the hands of the leaders of various pro-Communist groups. In such circumstances it would be very unwise to attempt to reopen the Consulate since this would only spark off more anti-British demonstra- tions and we could not be confident that the Portuguese authorities would be able to guarantee the personal safety
of our Consul.
6. From the work point of view, there are no strong reasons for having a Consulate in Macao. We have no real need for information about conditions in Macao and we derive little intelligence from there about China. One of the main functions of the Consulate used to be to run a Permit Office for the Hong Kong Government dealing with applications from Chinese in Macao to travel to Hong Kong. The Governor of Hong Kong now reports that this Office is functioning adequately from Hong Kong and says that he sees no advantage in reopening the Permit Office in Macao. The issue of visas and other consular duties can be undertaken from Hong Kong by the British Trade Commission and Immigration Department. We therefore consider that we should now take a decision in principle to close the Macao Consulate and, as from 1 August, pay off the local staff. We do not think that there will be any need to appoint an honorary Consul.
7.
There are, however, sound reasons why we should not make a public announcement about this for the time being,
It nor take steps to terminate the lease of the buildings. might well encourage the Communists in Macao to ransack the Consular buildings. These contain Home Office, Australian and other foreign "Suspect Indices" for visa work all
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CONSTIENTUAL
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