HONG KONG/MACAO AS AN ISSUE IN THE SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00429A001200030008-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 2004
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: September 6, 1963
• Content Type: IM

Approved For Release 2004/07/16 : CIA-RDP79T00429A001200030008-6
No. 2347/63
(NT NTELL1GENCE AGENCY
A'fice of Current
otember 1963
1-111t-U
,IteTt hong t
Asout
CK MEMORANDUM
g/kincao as an issue in the
ino-
1. The question of Chinese tolerance of the con?
tinued existence of Hong Kong and Macao as "colonial
laves in Chinese territory has received periodic
ntion in the dispute between Moscow and Peiping.
rnshchev first introduced the question in his speech
! re the Supreme Soviet on 12 December 1962. Stung
iping's repeated aspersions on Russian courage
revolutionary fervor in the fight against "imperi-
a "?particularly in connection with Cuba--he re-
d the Chinese that they had themselves done nothinK
the two colonies.
fter stressing the seriousnessof the prov
ented to Peiping by the existence of the two
' lavatories' on China's dor step, Khrushchev
ed the Chinese for their wisdom in refraining fro
ion until conditions were ripe. He declared it would
te ludicrous" for anyone to condemn the Chinese for
this display of patience, or to attempt to prod them into
4ction--as the Chinese had done to the Russians in con-
nection with the Cuban crisis. Khrushchev then posed the
rhetorical question of what would have happened if Mbscon
410 listened to "ultra-revolutionary loudmouths" at that
1 iptng responded guardedly on 8March withan
iidirect blow at the Soviet Union in the form of an edi-
torial attack on the US Communist Party. The editorial
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used Khrus chev'e sarcastic jibes about Chinese caution
in dealing with the colonies as a peg for a bitter dis-
cussion of the "unequal treaties" by which the colonial
powers?specifically including Tearist Russia -bad shorn
the Chinese empire of rights and territory.
4. This commentary was followed by a rem
of Peiping's intention to examine in good time a.
treaties concluded by previous Chinese government
to accept, revise., or abrogate them as it sees fit.
The Chines* underscored the potential effect of such a
review on the Soviet Union by aiming a rhetorical ques-
tion at Khrushchev which implied that any general set-
tlement of old treaties would be hard on Moscow.
5. As for Hong Kong and Macao, Peiping pursued a
deliberate and generally moderate line in its relations
with both. Although the Chinese protested a Hong Kong
slum clearance project in January and caused a flurry
of alarm in the Colonial Office, they did not press the
issue after the British had taken notice of the complaint.
-4eiping treated the problem of Chinese Nationalist ac-
tivity in the Colony with similar restraint, following
a ddmarche to the British chargd in Peiping during May
which was probably intended mainly as an irritant in
US-VK-OBC relations. During the Hong Kong water crisis
last spring, the Chinese Communist authorities cooperated
in efforts to work out alternate sources of supply.
a. The renewed Russian attack on the Chinese re-
garding the Bong Kong-Macao issue in Xzvestiya on 2
.iieptember is such sharper than Kbrushe v kks
last December. Specific points made by the article,
which seem certain to infuriate Peiping, include a ref-
orence to the flight of refugees into Bong Kong, a com-
ment that the Colony provides a base for the US Seventh
Fleet, and a charge that Peiping is ignoring British ex
ploitation of Chinese workers in Hong long. Pointing
out that a "refreshing wind" has been blowing which has
eliminated colonialism from GOA and West Irian, Moscow
taunted the Chinese for continued inaction against Hong
Kong and 'Cacao. The Russians said that Peiping has
Limited itself to -meaningless curses,"
7. Meson probable purpose in attacking
se, on this issue is to expose Peiping's impotence and
possible to goad the Chinese into futile pressu
tics which would damage relations between Chino d
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at--particularly with the U. The &iseiana likely
to, probably correctly, that the CMnee have too
iinich at stake in continued economic relations with Hong
Xong and Macao to seise the colonies at this time. Pei-
ping has thus far maintained official silence concerning
the Iv/0*U a article. Pro-Communist newspapers in Hong
Kong ave avoided the subject except for one daily which
played the story as an attempt by the USER to stir up
trouble between Peiping and London.
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