0003160 G.F. 316
COMAN
CITF REGISTRAV
*CE
28 FEB 190/
DEPENSINI TERATONIES
SECRET
LIA CLACE,
Copy No.
Dansion.
4
RECEIVED IN
ARCHIVES No. 63
1 557
SAVINGRAM
rom:
The Governor, Hong Kong
Repeated:
HW013/4
To:
The Secretary of State for
Commonwealth Affairs
P.A. to C. in C.F.E.
9
No.:
304
Date:
February 15th, 1967.
Peking
Tamsui
4
3
Ref.:
T
TS.2/57 III
LAST
L. I.C. MONTHLY EXTERNAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT
REF.
BEX
JANUARY, 1967
1.
My savingram No. 60.
In spite of events in Macau, Hong Kong's relations with the C. P.G. were fairly quiet during the month, although the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs' offer of Hong Kong as a possible venue for Vietnam peace talks gave rise to criticism in the local left wing newspapers which reproduced the N.C.N.A. items on the subject. The criticism was predictably linked with the complaint that the U. K. was allowing Hong Kong to be used as a base for U.S. aggression in Vietnam. This particular point was taken up later in the month at greater length when a visit by the Commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet unfortunately coincided with the visit of the Chief of the General Staff. Nevertheless, it was noticeable that the left wing press did not push the campaign very far. Similarly its reaction later in the month to the arrival of the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Longbeach was strangely muted. It may be that the C.P.G. is too preoccupied at present with internal matters to want to conduct even minor arguments over Hong Kong but this may well not be the whole story. Events in Macau for instance may have made them realise how easily local left-wing elements can get out of hand.
2.
Border relations during the month were reasonably quiet. There were no developments over the oyster bed disputes in Deep Bay. There was an unsubstantiated report that the Fu Shing commune (the protagonists in the dispute over oyster bed No. 5) had received a telegram from Peking urging it to settle the matter locally. This would certainly be consistent with the line taken by the M.F.A. in Peking when discussing the matter with H.M. Charge d'Affaires, but there was no sign by the end of the month that the commune authorities were prepared to talk. Elsewhere, the farmers of Lin Ma Hang village in British territory who farm in Chinese territory were told by the Chinese authorities that despite their representations (see L. I. C. report for December 1966, paragraph 6) they must attend indoctrination sessions in Chinese territory three times a week. They agreed to do so and attended their first meeting on 6th January, In other places along the border, villagers who cross from Chinese territory to work sing revolutionary songs and carry placards bearing quotations from Chairman Mao. In the middle of the month a party of fishermen from various parts of the Colony went to a commune near the border for a two-week indoctrination course.
3.
month.
The Macau crisis dragged on almost until the end of the
The indications are that at least from mid-January
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