TNAG-0281-FCO40-317-Visit-of-the-Chancellor-of-the-Duchy-of-Lancaster-to-Hong-Ko-1970 — Page 170

CONFIDENTIAL

Chinese regard their continued detention as a major

irritant in Sino-British relations. The Chinese

Charge d'Affaires in London mentioned them in the course

of a courtesy call on the Secretary of State on 5 August.

Communist Press 17. The CPG are especially sensitive about the attitude

of the Hong Kong Government towards the local communist

press which not infrequently publishes subversive material.

The last occasion on which the Government took action

Communist Schools

to curb the press was immediately followed by the sacking

of our Mission in Peking (in August, 1967).

18. Communist schools have an aggregate enrolment of some

29,000 pupils which represents 2.4% of the total school

enrolment in the Colony. However, they have a captive

clientele in the families of active communist supporters,

communist trade union members and employees of communist

concerns; such schools provide for a high level of political

indoctrination and are not easy to control. On the other

hand the low standard of education that they provide

serves to restrict their appeal in non-communist circles.

IMMIGRATION CONTROL AND REFUGEES

19. More than a million immigrants and refugees have

entered Hong Kong from China since 1950. Because other

countries have refused to accept Chinese immigrants and

because the refugees now constitute a substantial proportion

of the population of the Colony, the Hong Kong Government

has been obliged to follow a policy of integrating them

into the community.

8.

CONFIDENTIAL