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CONFIDENTIAL
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Hong Kong Department
29 February 19 Regy
DATE
:
CC
Mr Bertram, OED
Mr Paul
ре
fice
CONSULATE-GENERAL IN HONG KONG: BRITISH COUNCIL INTEREST
1.
Pl open
كيف
in British Corint in HK after 97"
(and extract
any
198
paper from the "C-G file for transfer)
Mr Julian Davey, the Senior British Council representative in
Hong Kong, came to see me on 26 February. He asked to talk to me
about the status and accommodation of the British Council after
1997.
env
시
2. We began by discussing what status the British Council could
have after 1997. I said that the Joint Declaration seemed to give
the Council some flexibility. If it wished to remain relatively distinct from the Consulate-General, with a non-diplomatic status,
there was no obvious reason why this should not be possible. I understood (and Mr Davey confirmed) that in many parts of the world this was what the Council preferred. Alternatively there was no
obvious reason why it could not become the cultural section of the
Consulate-General, in an arrangement which would more closely
parallel the present situation in Peking.
3. Mr Davey asked about the possibility that the Council might operate out of Hong Kong into South China. I said that the Hong
Kong Government was aiming so far as possible to have a consular
corps (and by extension probably a corps of foreign cultural
representatives) with functions limited to Hong Kong. But in
practice there was already an increasing number of diplomats in Hong Kong (including British ones) who were also accredited to Peking and
carried out functions in South China. This trend was bound to
continue. But it would seem anomalous for any Hong Kong-based
British Council representative after 1997 to have diplomatic status
in China but not in the Hong Kong SAR. Mr Davey said he would put in hand work to establish what status and sphere of activity would
CONFIDENTIAL