TNAG-0065-FCO40-101-Local-intelligence-reports-1968 — Page 189

0003 160 G.F. 316

CHIEF

DECISKRAM.

*ICE

28 FEB 190/

COMING BATH OFFICE,

DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

DIVISION.

SECRET

5

Copy No.

SAVINGRAM

From: The

vernor, Hong Kong

Repeated:

To:

The Secretary of State for

Commonwealth Affairs

P.A. to C. in C.F.E.

8

Peking

3

No.:

303

Tamsui

2

Date: February 15th, 1967

LAST

REF

Ref.:TS.2/57 III

RECE

ARCHIVES No. 63

ALF.

-1 MAR1957

HWAIS,

15/4

1.

L.I.C. MONTHLY INTERNAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT

JANUARY, 1967

My savingram No. 60.

CHIEF REGISTRAR'S OFFICE

28FEB 190/ COMMONWEALTH OFFICE, IDEPENDENT TERRITORIS

DIVISION.

The development of the Cultural Revolution in China, although headline news in all sections of the press throughout the month, gave rise to surprisingly little reaction in overt local left-wing circles. Whilst the lcft-wing press confined itself mainly to republishing official C. P.G. news releases the right-wing press naturally seized on reports, mostly emanating from Japanese correspondents in Peking, of armed clashes and industrial chaos in China. Left-wing officials claimed to know little of what was going on, in spite of the fact that many of them had children in China taking part, apparently enthusiastically, in Red Guard activities. There was no evidence of reluctance among the left-wing to visit the mainland, and several groups from various circles toured China for a week each, during which some visited the birth-place of MAO Tse-tung. Late in the month & number of meetings were held by left-wing organisations including schools at which the situation in China was discussed. Schoolmasters admitted that there had been some unrest but claimed that a small group of reactionaries who had plotted to sabotage production had been foiled by strong revolutionary forces and order had been restored. One master asserted that, without the Cultural Revolution, China would have been seduced by the Russian revisionists, but that now she would bring the world revolution to a successful conclusion within 20 ,years. Although there was no sign that existing contracts were

being affected, there was some evidence that China Resources Company was being very cautious about entering into new contracts for industrial products, minerals and chemicals, 'According to one usually reliable source, however, January is

not a month in which many new orders are normally booked.

2.

During the month the Thoughts of MAO Tse-tung and the Cultural Revolution, in very broad terms, were the main themes of political discussion meetings in local left-wing circles. The study of the Thoughts of MAO was greatly intensified and meetings for this purpose were held in left- wing union, cultural, educational, banking and commercial circles. The Commercial Press, which completed its original printing of 30,000 copies of the booklet "Quotations from Chairman MAO Tse-tung during the month (L.I.C. report for December 1966, paragraph 20 refers) received orders for a further 200,000 copies. Senior officials of the Federation of Trade Unions (F.T.U.) exhorted union representatives to make a deeper study of the Thoughts of MAO. The difficulty in finding suitable scripts for the F. T.U. 's opera troupe, which performs

SECRET