[COLAJJ]
CONFIDENTIAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
S W Harbinson Esq
Civil Service Branch
Government Secretariat HONG KONG
DEN Stant,
Telephone 01- 233 4439
Your reference
lie
Our reference
HKK 256/1
Date
7 August 1985
25
FUTURE APPOINTMENTS TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE
22
1. Thank you for your letter of 29 June about future appointment requirements for the Administrative Service.
2. I note that the draft paper enclosed with your letter is intended to give us advance warning of your proposals, and that when they are finalised you intend to write to us formally. In the meantime, it has been useful to receive this indication of your thinking and to be given an early opportunity to comment.
3. We are in agreement with the views stated in the paper that there are no good reasons for delaying the removal of the British nationality requirement. Indeed, such a move is consistent with a final progression which elsewhere would have led to independence. We also agree that the announcement of its deletion is unlikely to cause much comment, particularly as its implementation was foreshadowed both in the Agreement and again in the Chief Secretary's letter to the Civil Service dated 27 September 1984. You will probably have already considered the difficulties that may arise in vetting non-British nationals of those countries where your ability to obtain the necessary information is limited.
4. Provided that you can make adequate vetting arrangements for non-British nationals (and/or provide for the handling of particularly sensitive material in such circumstances), we are generally content with your proposals as they currently stand. I assume from para 1 of your letter that we shall have a chance to comment formally at a later stage.
You
Чи
السلام
Mik
CE Leeks
Departme
Hong Kong Department
HKK 256/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
07 AUG 1985
DESK OFFICES
INDEX
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RECKTRY Action Taken,
مه
CONFIDENTIAL