Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
21 August 1989
From The Minister of State
The Hon Fancis Maude MP
:
Matthew Taylor Esq MP House of Commons
London
SW1A OAA
Dea Natthew,
Thank you for your letter of 26 July to John Major, on behalf of a member of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, about the possibility of voluntary retirement with pension before 1997.
I appreciate his concerns. But it remains true that Section IV of Annex I of the Joint Declaration ensures that all public servants may remain in employment and continue their service after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on 1 July 1997. The Joint Declaration also stipulates that employment (and pensions) will be on terms no less favourable than before. It will be a matter of personal choice whether an individual chooses to leave or to stay on.
I do not in any case agree that after 1997 he would be working for the Chinese authorities: the Joint
Declaration provides for a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong after 1997 and for Hong Kong to be run by Hong Kong people.
..
We do not therefore envisage a general scheme to enable expatriate police officers to retire with pensions on or before 1997. On the contrary, our efforts will be devoted to encouraging pensionable expatriate officers to stay on after the transfer of sovereignty, in the interests of continuity.
He clai
that local officers are being given preference over extates for promotion. It has for some years been the licy of the Hong Kong Government to increase the num of local officers in the gazetted officer ranks. But the proportion of local officers in senior ranks is growing as the force expands and as expatriates retire and are succeeded by local officers. Promotion for all is on merit but arrangements have been made to compensate any expatriate officer whose promotion might
It has so far be blocked by the policy of localisation. never been necessary to activate these arrangements.
ш
Francis Maude