Vietnamese officials suspected of recruiting spies for the Soviet Union, intersex twins born in Hong Kong, and government considering petrol rationing: headlines from 40 years ago
- A journey back through time to look at significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history
Vietnamese officials being suspected of recruiting spies for the Soviet Union, a set of intersex twins being born in Hong Kong, and the government considering implementing petrol rationing made the headlines 40 years ago this week.
September 21, 1980
● A property company had paid more than HK$1.3 billion (about US$260 million at the time) for a government site in Tsim Sha Tsui, the biggest land deal in Hong Kong’s history. The commercial plot was sold to Silver Cord Ltd, a subsidiary of Li Ka-shing’s Cheung Kong Holdings.
● The government was investigating reports that Vietnamese officials in Hong Kong were recruiting spies for the Soviet Union. The check on the activities of certain Vietnamese nationals followed the repeated failure of Russians, Eastern European bloc, and Cuban nationals to enter Hong Kong. There had been persistent fears that the Vietnamese and Russians could be trying to infiltrate various host countries taking refugees by sneaking agents among those fleeing the oppressive rule of Hanoi.
● US Secretary of State Edmund Muskie said the US was monitoring the situation regarding the movement of Soviet troops in the western parts of the Soviet Union and East Germany. Washington was nervous about possible Soviet moves into Poland. Any such incursion would evoke a sharp reaction from the US following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
No more Concorde to Singapore, Hong Kong’s out-of-control rents: past headlines
September 22, 1980
● Iraq invaded Iran as it was eager to take advantage of a regional power vacuum in the wake of Iran’s revolution of the previous year.
● British police foiled a plot by Welsh extremists to firebomb seven targets in the London area, The Sunday Telegraph reported. In a front-page story, the newspaper said the targets included Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the state-funded British Broadcasting Corporation, and two other BBC offices. The Welsh extremists were planning to step up terrorist activities against the British government, state-run industries, and certain sections of the media.
September 23, 1980
● A China-owned company bought a vast 52 million sq ft tract of land in the New Territories for HK$600 million (about US$120 million at the time), paving the way for an HK$8 billion new town project. The sale had boosted business confidence in the city as it was seen as a hint that the New Territories would remain part of the colony beyond the 1997 deadline.
China’s one-child policy, woman giving birth while in a coma: past headlines
September 24, 1980
● The number of jobless people in Britain rose to more than two million, or 8.4 per cent of the workforce, that month. It was the highest figure since 1936 during the depression years. Eric Varley, Labour opposition spokesman on employment, commented that the jobless figure represented the inevitable outcome of the “government’s lunatic economic measures”.
September 25, 1980
● Hong Kong would have to reintroduce petrol rationing if there was any oil shortage, Secretary for Economic Services David Jeaffreson warned. He was commenting on fears that Western oil supplies would be badly hit by fighting between Iran and Iraq. Forty per cent of the West’s crude oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz and there was uncertainty as to whether tankers would be prepared to run the gauntlet if the war spread to the southern end of the gulf.
September 26, 1980
● Iraqi forces claimed to have captured the major oil harbour of Khorramshahr in southwestern Iran as air raid sirens wailed in Tehran. The fall of Khorramshahr followed a Baghdad Radio announcement that advancing Iraqi troops had seized the railway that connected the city and the neighbouring oil refinery city of Abadan with Tehran.
● A bomb exploded in a rubbish bin near the main entrance to the annual Oktoberfest in Munich, West Germany, killing 12 people and injuring more than 200, many of whom lost limbs in the blast. The perpetrator, Gundolf Köhler, 21, a German far-right terrorist, was instantly killed in the attack as the bomb exploded prematurely.
September 27, 1980
● Twins, both with male and female sexual organs, were born in Hong Kong that week. They were under intensive care at United Christian Hospital. A hospital spokesman said doctors were trying to decide the sex of the two babies, who were not born at the hospital but taken there by the parents.
● China had test flown its first four-engine prototype jet airliner in Shanghai, aviation sources said. The sources said the aircraft had been constructed in Shanghai and was powered by four Pratt and Whitney engines from among 40 spare engines bought at the same time as China bought 10 Boeing 707 airliners in 1972.
Remember A Day looks at significant news and events reported by the Post during this week in history
