TNAG-0067-FCO40-103-Governors--reports-1968 — Page 34

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 violent

than those which took place last year;

although it may be some time before order and

stability can be restored, they appear unlikel

to influence Chinese policy adversely so far

as Hong Kong is concerned.

4.

and

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

be relaxed.

vigilance can

assure you that

my ministerial colleagues, to whom copies of

this exchange of despatches are being

circulated,

under ne illusions on the

om Dart, I and my colleag subject. The are fully alive to the fact

that the Communist threat to Hong Kong remains

very real and will continue unabated, albeit in

/a different

...

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