CONFIDENTIAL
Report on October 1 National Day Celebrations in London
On the invitation of the Organising Committee, I attended a dinner party to celebrate October 1 as well as to welcome new Chinese Ambassador Mr. KO Hua () at the China Town Chinese Restaurant, Leicester Square, London on Sunday, 24th September, 1978 at 4 p.m. As this was the first time a Hong Kong Government officer ever appeared at an official function organised by the pro-China camp in London or anywhere else in Great Britain, I thought it useful to put down my impressions on record.
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Among the Chinese community in London, there are two long established pro-China associations: The Chinese Workers Mutual Aid Association (A) and the Kung Wo Club (#40 14). Both were established during the Nationalist days under the auspices of the then Chinese Embassy. With the change of regime in Mainland China, they also changed their colour: Kung Wo Club soon after 1949 and the Mutual Aid Association as late as 1966. Comparatively, the Mutual Aid Association has a much larger membership and the leaders are mainly Cantonese speaking people from the Yuen Long District of the New Territories. The current Chairman is Mr. MAN Leung-sang (XT 1) of San Tin. leaders of the Kung Wo Club. are Hakká speaking and the Chairman is Mr. LAŬ Sun (7) jŋ) from Mainland China who had spent some time working as a chef in a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel before coming to Britain. Both gentlemen are considered to be leaders of the Chinese community in Great Britain by the Chinese Embassy and they are invited to the Embassy's official functions as such. Both are restaurateurs and importers of China products. Due to clashes of interests in business, the two do not see eye to eye and are reported to be fighting for leadership and favours from the Chinese Embassy.
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The two organisations used to organise showings of Chinese films regularly and act jointly as agents for the distribution of communist newspapers including those publish- ed in Hong Kong and the People's Daily and People's Pictorial. There was a split last year and they are now rivals in these respects, each doing their own thing and competing against each other.
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