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DRAF
CONFIDENTIAL
HKD 256/3
R S Barratt Esq. CBE, QPM
HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary
Home Office
50, Queen Anne's Gate
LONDON
3 August 1987
HONG KONG POLICE FORCE: FUTURE PROSPECTS
1.
As I believe you know from your recent contacts with John Kelland, our Overseas Police Adviser, and Ray Anning, Hong Kong Commissioner of Police, a question has arisen over the future of the Royal Hong Kong Police on which I should be grateful for clarification from the Home Office.
2.
I think you will have seen a copy of a letter to me dated 2 June from the Hong Kong Political Adviser, Dick Clift, which explains the problem in some detail. The letter raises several issues, but only one need be explored at this stage. Briefly, officers of the Hong Kong Police, both expatriate (i.e. mainly UK-born) and local Chinese, have asked the Hong Kong Government to clarify whether, in the event that they continue to serve in the Hong Kong Police after 1997, they will thereby be debarred from subsequently serving in another British or Commonwealth police force; on the grounds that, by remaining in the police after 1997, they would have (albeit indirectly) served a communist government.
3.
It is very much in the interests of HMG and the Hong Kong Government that we should be able to reassure police officers that their prospects would not be adversely effected in this way after 1997. Under the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong HMG remain fully responsible (via the Hong Kong Government) for the administration of Hong Kong up to 1997 with the aim of maintaining the territory's proserity and stability. We are also committed to working with the Chinese Government to achieve a smooth transition to Chinese sovereignty for Hong Kong) in 1997. The continued morale, strength, and professionalism of the Hong Kong police are clearly a major factor in maintaining that stability up to and beyond 1997.
CONFIDENTIAL