9.
In 1967 the turbulence of China's Cultural Revolution
spilled over into Hong Kong, resulting in bomb attacks and other
violent actions by pro-Peking extremists. The Chinese government
formally demanded the release of extremists arrested by the Hong
Kong police. The British Chargé d'Affaires' office in Peking was
burnt down by demonstrators protesting at the failure to meet these
demands, but as the Cultural Revolution gradually died down within
China so too did communist agitation in Hong Kong.
10. In 1963 an authoritative Chinese press article (responding to
criticism by the pro-Soviet Communist Party of the USA) had declared
that the questions of Hong Kong and Macao belonged to the category
of unequal treaties left over by history, to be settled peacefully
when conditions were ripe. In March 1972 the Chinese Permanent
Representative at the UN wrote to the UN Secretary-General,
maintaining that these questions were "entirely within China's
sovereign right" and should not be considered by the Committee on
Decolonisation. The British representative subsequently
communicated to the Secretary-General the British Government's view
that there was no change in the legal status of Hong Kong.
11.
From the late 1970s onwards contacts between China and Hong,
Kong increased. In 1979 the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose visited
Peking at the invitation of the Chinese Minister of Foreign Trade.
The Prime Minister
J
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visited Peking in September 1982 and this resulted in
agreement to hold negotiations on Hong Kong's future,
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