AST
2600027 C.S. 20A
From the Governor, Hong Kong
To the Secretary of State for the Colonies
peated to:-
Repeated to:-
Date........August 28th, 1967...
My Reference..... TC 120/67..
SAVING RAM
Despatch No.....47.
Your Reference...
No.
No.
14
(13)
Future Role of the British Trade Commission
in Hong Kong
Your Savingram 551 of 1 June, 1967.
The post of Commercial Assistant (Information) in the British Trade Commission has been filled. The officer appointed was given basic training in Information Services Department first.
2.
As for the establishment of a fully fledged information section in the Trade Commission in future, we would see no objection in principle provided its terms of reference were carefully defined. It would in any case be essential for such a section to maintain close day to day relations with the Information Services Department. Unless you wish to take the consideration of this question further as a matter of urgency we would prefer to postpone any attempt to define the functions and activities of the section until the dust has settled here. We could perhaps look at the matter again at the end of September.
13
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RECEIVED IN ARCHIVES No. 54
5 SEP 1967
TA
LWD B/G
Con
on IAI
141/240/1
414
L
CHIEF REGISTRAR'S OFFICE
4 SEP 1967
COMMONW ALTH OFFICE.
Page
CONFIDENTIAL
13
Page
Our Ref. HWB 13/9
SAVING
From the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
To the Officer Administering the Government of HONG KONG
Date
No. 551 Saving
Future Role of British Trade Commission,
Hong Kong
Earlier this year approval was given for the creation of an additional post of Commercial Assistant (Information) in the British Trade Commissioner's Office, Hong Kong. The intention is to fill the post by local. recruitment (this may in fact, already have been done) and the officer appointed will be responsible, under direction of the Assistant Trade Commissioner, for handling trade and publicity matters, including the production of a trade-promotion magazine and liaison with the Chinese press and television stations.
2.
It is understood that the subject of U.K. Information Services in Hong Kong was mentioned to you personally by Mr. Robert Maxwell, M.P. at the beginning of the year. The idea has also been mooted of establishing a fully fledged Information section of the Trade Commission with a reading room, reference library, film library etc., but there would be obvious political dangers attached to such a course, for example:-
(a)
the Chinese Government might react unfavourably to a vigorous compaign on their door-step to put over Western democratic ideals;
(b) any systematic attempt in Hong Kong to put over
the U.K. viewpoint on an issue on which H.M.G. and the Hong Kong Government might not see eye to eye, would tend to belie the strict constitutional status of the territory and could lead to other embarrassment.
In the first instance, therefore, the Trade Commission's extended responsibilities will be confined to a small-scale information effort in trade promotion and, subject to any views you may hold, it is not the intention to make any change in the title of the Office either now or later. We hope, however, that if it were later found possible to post a U.K. based Information Officer to Hong Kong (and this would not be done without specific clearance from
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