TNAG-1238-FCO40-1551-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 180

CONFIDENTIAL

Reference

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CHA

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Mr Cox, FED (W 82) HKK040||

My towe

1 C MAY 1983

PA

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1215-

XU JIATUN

1.

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I attach an expanded version of the LPR biography of Xu Jiatun. It includes all his known posts.

2. I have omitted some information relating to his early life

which I have been unable to check. According to this information he was born in Hubei province in 1913, He trained as an engineer and joined the Communist Party in 1929. During the civil war he served in the Third Field Army system. It is quite possible that he did in fact serve in the Third Field Army as that unit took over Fujian province after the civil war (where Xu held his first known post) and was also well represented in Jiangsu province to which Xu was later transferred.

Xu Shiyou was a senior officer in the Third Field Army so it is possible that connections between the two Xus could go back to before the founding of the People's Republic.

In

3. When considering Xu's career it is worth noting that Jiangsu province tops the national league table in terms of the joint value of agricultural and industrial output. industry it is second only in output value to Shanghai, and in agricultural output value it holds first place ahead of Sichuan.

RF Wye

Far Eastern Section Research Department G 62/5 233-3892

11 May 1983

cc: Mr Morris

Mr Crowley Mr Martin Mr Margolis Mr Peirce

HKGD (K 221) PUSD (CN 1018) Cabinet Office DPA HONG KONG BE PEKING

CODE IN-77

སས--

THIS IS A COPY

THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN

40

CLOSED FOR

YEARS UNDER FOI EXEMPTION NO. 27.

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