From The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
14 December, 1970.
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You will remember that when we had lunch together some weeks ago Mr. Pao suggested that if ships on the Hong Kong Register could be permitted to sail with senior officers not of British nationality the obstacle in the way of registering his ships in Hong Kong would be removed.
When Sir David Trench was in London last week I mentioned this point to him, and he told me that while it was true that Section 2(1) of the
Hong Kong Merchant Shipping (Aliens Employment) Ordinance provided that no alien should act as Master, Chief Officer or Chief Engineer of a British ship of over 60 tons net register tonnage registered in the Colony, that prohibition did not apply to any person who held a valid certificate of exemption granted by the Governor.
It seems, therefore, that the law, as it stands, already provides a solution to the problem as Mr. Pao put it to me.
As you know, I shall be seeing Mr. Pao again on Thursday. I should, therefore, be grateful if you could show him this letter before then so that we may consider the matter further at that meeting.
Mr. Wm. W.Y. Lee,
First Floor,
3/4 Bevis Marks,
London, E.C.3.