SECRET
HONG KONG TELEGRAM NO. 299 TO COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
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This is a point which the Communist leadership has not explained to its supporters.
4. There seems little doubt that the reception given to the F.T.U. directive to persuade some 4,000 members of the Kowloon bus branch of the Motor Transport Workers' Union to return to work has forced the Communist labour hierarchy to reconsider its position because of the serious effect it could have on the morale of the Union members, who may well feel they are being abandoned. It is not clear whether the statement concerning continued strike pay and further C.P.G. support has any official backing, but if it does not, in the long run it could have an even worse effect on Communist morale. These workers could present a dangerous security threat in that, regardless of the wishes of the Communist leaders to avoid violence, they may decide to take the law into their own hands if their strike pay is terminated and it becomes apparent that they have no hope of reinstatement. The protest issued by the ACAPSC illustrates the Communist leadership's intention to keep this body in being. The protest itself is fairly mild in tone compared with some earlier statements issued by this organisation.
5.
The latest C.P.G. statement to the Charge d'Affaires in Peking concerning Hong Kong, (Peking telegrams Nos. 174 178), seems unlikely to have any immediate effect on Communist activity here in view of the C.P.G. intention not to publicise it. It may also be pertinent that it calls for a reply to the demanas rather than an insistence that they must be accepted or met. In general, it may be a reaction to the recent incidents involving local Communists and police and is intended as a warning that the C.P.G. consider Hong Kong is still a live issue and that the measures taken by the Hong Kong Government to maintain law and order are generally unaccep- table insofar as the Communists are directly affected. In addition, it may be a reminder that the C.P.G. will continue to support Communist action here with diplomatic pressure whenever necessary. By implication, they have reverted to the view that Communists in the colony should be inviolate and that care should be taken, there- fore, not to act against them. At the same time, the reference to prison visits and reciprocal visits to Grey may indicate that, although it is re-asserted that normal relations depend on Hong Kong question being resolved, there is room for compromise.
Foreign Office pass routine Washington 29, Canberra 25 and Peking 95.
Sir D. Trench.
[Repetition to Peking referred for departmental decision, repeated as requested to other posts and copy sent to Cabinet Office for J.I.C.]
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