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security functions.
There might also be difficulty in
retaining senior expatriate and Hong Kong Chinese officers;
recruitment would be seriously affected.
17.
The continuation of the Hong Kong Special Branch,
with its present functions and in anything like its present
form, would present particular. difficulties. The safety
of Hong Kong Chinese officers now or previously employed in
it could be at risk.
COMMUNICATIONS AND INTELLIGENCE
18. A recognition of Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong,
and in particular the conversion of Hong Kong into a
Special Administrative Region of the PRC, might also have
a significant effect on HMG's communications and intelligence
operations in the territory. This is considered in greater
detail in a separate paper outside the scope of this study.
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