L
CONFIDENTIAL
INWARD TELEGRAM
TO THE COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (The Secretary of State)
FROM HONG KONG (Sir D. Trench)
D. 15th March 1967 R. 15th
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05.35 hrs.
ISTRATION
ARES No. Ei
15 Riu
HWAY/
Cypher
IMMEDIATE
CONFIDENTIAL
No.338
Addressed to Commonwealth Office Repeated
??
Peking No.113
(Please pass IMMEDIATE)
LAST
REF.
ご
My telegram No. 316.
Lau Fau Shan Incident.
Since our original representations to our
N.C.N.A. contact would barely have had time to take effect in the five days that elapsed before the incursion on 9th March, I arranged for our contact to be spoken to again on 11th March. He was given a detailed account of the events reported in our telegram under reference and left in no doubt of our concern about the villagers' threats of force and our disappointment that another incident should have taken place in spite of our first conversation with him.
He took the line, however, that all illegal immigrants should be returned at the point of entry and that the requests of the villagers were quite reasonable, because they were representatives of the 'masses' and did not understand diplomatic procedures. He added that we could expect further representations' of this nature from these villagers. But he undertook in relatively friendly terms to bring our views again to the attention of his head office.
2. The actions of the intruders have so far been noisy rather than disorderly. On 9th March for example they marched to the Lau Fau Shan police station, conducted a protracted argument there and on leaving (and this is the most disturbing feature) marched through the village singing praises of Mao and asserting that they would struggle with the British imperialists until they succeeded in their aim. If such incursions continue, however, particularly on a larger and more militant scale, we shall have to take a firmer line. We cannot afford to let the belief spread that groups of Chinese can enter Hong Kong territory at will and threaten local residents with impunity.
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3. As far as practical measures are concerned, major difficulty is that there is no effective means by which the police can prevent landings along the shore at Lau Fau Shan. A possible line of action would be the
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CONFIDENTIAL
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