TNAG-0067-FCO40-103-Governors--reports-1968 — Page 19

CONFIDENTIAL

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT

COMMONWEALTH OFFICE PRINT

CO Ref.: HWB 13/7

HONG KONG: DEVELOPMENTS

28 May, 1968

Copy No.

63

Sir,

The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs to the Governor of Hong Kong

Commonwealth Office, 16 April, 1968

I have the honour to refer to your despatch No. 239† of 13 February, 1968, in which you review the principal developments that have taken place in Hong Kong since June 1967.

2. I consider your report to be an admirably accurate and objective history of events during the period under review. It was regrettably inevitable that it should need to be very largely devoted to reporting on the course of Communist confrontation in the Colony. The account of the build-up of the Communist campaign last year, the degree and manner of support from the Chinese People's Government and in particular, the way that the incident of 8 July at Sha Tau Kok triggered off the subsequent campaign of violence, confirm the view that the confrontation was an overspill of the cultural revolution in China. This, among other things, resulted in a weakening of the channel of control over local Hong Kong Communists. But for the admirably firm and patient policy of the Hong Kong Government and the strong backing it received from the great majority of the people of Hong Kong, the Chinese People's Government might have been tempted or obliged to give full support to the efforts of their local supporters to disturb the status quo and to undermine authority in the Colony.

3. I do not dissent from the conclusions in paragraph 35 of your despatch concerning internal developments in China, but my advisers and I doubt whether Mao Tse-tung and the extremists would be allowed by the more moderate elements or by the People's Liberation Army to mount another campaign similar to that of last year, even if they wished to do so. The present disturbances in certain areas of China, including the Kwangtung Province, though considerable, seem to be less viclent than those which took place last year; and although it may be some time before order and stability can be restored, they appear unlikely to influence Chinese policy adversely so far as Hong Kong is concerned.

4. However, the fact that, apart from isolated incidents, the local Communists have now abandoned the use of violence to achieve their ends in the Colony must leave us under no misapprehensions. There is, perhaps, a danger that the efficiency and effectiveness with which the Communist challenge last year was met and overcome, coupled with the remarkable resilience displayed by the Hong Kong economy, may create the impression that the danger is past and that vigilance can be relaxed. I can assure you that for our part, I and my colleagues are fully alive to the fact that the Communist threat to Hong Kong remains very real, and will continue unabated, albeit in a different form, and that there are no grounds whatever for complacency on our part.

5. Public tribute has deservedly been paid in Parliament on more than one occasion to the manner in which the people of Hong Kong, under your leadership, met and withstood the challenge presented to them by the Communists; and to the efficiency with which the Hong Kong police, with the assistance of the Colony's garrison, dealt with the situation. It is, however, fitting that I should conclude this despatch by confirming and recording the appreciation of Her Majesty's Government for the manner in which you, your advisers-both official and unofficial the forces of law and order and the general public of the Colony faced up to and overcame the dangers which confronted Hong Kong during the year 1967.

I am, &c.

CO Print of 16 May, 1968.

CONFIDENTIAL

GEORGE THOMSON.

20501-84 8855-21

p.a.

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