BRITISH EMBASSY,
20 June 1980
TOKYO.
Head pos-aft reply
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Clue) (aspeeber
Sir Michael Palliser GCMG Foreign & Commonwealth Office
с.с
CC MAZD
PED
Dear
1.
Michael,
TH.
OPPY K
Clues Clark PS/PUS Swaghors
Graeme Wilson, my Counsellor Civil Aviation resident in 30% Hong Kong (BCARFE), was in Tokyo recently and we discussed the future of his post. I understand that he will be leaving that post in May next year and that his Assistant (who had "held the fort" during his necessarily frequent absences from Hong Kong) was actually withdrawn in April 1980. Wilson gave me to understand that the continuation of the BCARFE post after 1981 was currently under review. It is obviously for the Department of Trade to determine the value of that post from their point of view but, especially since I believe the costs are borne by the FCO, it behoves us to express a view on the value of that post in its FCO context; and this letter therefore voices a view of the importance of the BCARFE function as seen by one of the several posts which it serves. I would like my other colleagues in this area to express their own views and I am therefore copying this letter to them.
2.
I
After considerable experience of this part of the world, including most recently my five years here as Ambassador, I must say that I think the disappearance of BCARFE from the scene would be a mistake. Not only I, but colleagues in about 10 posts in the area, would be deprived of immediate expert advice on complicated civil aviation matters. recognise that such advice could, of course, be obtained from London and that the direct negotiating work hitherto performed by BCARFE could be carried out by specialists from the DOT. However, I and my colleagues would lose those regular periodic visits by BCARFE which both provide the
· opportunity to consult him at leisure on longer term issues and enable him, at least in my experience up here in Tokyo, to get alongside those Japanese Government and airline officials with whom personal contacts are so important. I cannot exaggerate the value of such visits which, by their regular "maintenance" between aviation professionals, not only prevent small irritants developing into major problems, but also ensure that whenever major negotiations do take place they are conducted in an atmosphere of mutual
/understanding