TNAG-0328-FCO40-364-Activities-of-New-Left-groups-amongst-students-and-youth-of--1973 — Page 104

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HKK 13/12

RECEIVED IN

REGISTRY No. 51

- 8 MAY 1972

MICK 13/3

Dean Michael; Дени

COLONIAL SECRETARIAT.

HONG KONG.

98 April 1972

2

·E".

Thank you for your letter of the 17th April

enclosing a copy of an article which appeared in the "Daily Telegraph" last month enquired about the "New Left" movement here.

The draft of an up to date and comprehensive

paper about this is just being finalised. The paper will be considered by the Governor's Committee during May. I will then send you a copy, letting you know at the same time what decisions are reached. It should, I think, give you a very full picture of the position.

Meanwhile, very briefly, the movement was

started here by dissident expatriates whose number has diminished, so it is now Chinese dominated. It remains small and has not yet been particularly successful. It aims at influencing students, but most of the few who have so far occasionally taken part in its activities remain on the fringes of it: hardly any belong to its tiny hard core which has shown signs of being anti-British (see our telegram 321). It is already a nuisance and represents a potential threat to security.

The real need

is to isolate moderate student (or other) critics of Government who advocate specific reforms but behave rationally and responsibly from extreme radicals for whom protest is almost a way of life.

Tams

Hugh Mason-Women

E. O. Laird, Esq, CMG, MBE, Hong Kong Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, LONDON.

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