I
CONFIDENTIAL
the analogy with other countries where the
local governments (much less wealthy than Hong Kong) provided the sterling safeguards;
the fact that by a deliberate act of policy the Hong Kong Government chose to maintain
a high number of HMOCS officers and to
continue to promote on merit; in contrast to
what happened in other countries where
expatriate numbers were systematically
reduced and local staff advanced to senior
positions in the run up to the transfer of
power.
8. These points made little impact on Hong Kong Government officials who countered with their arguments why they could not help as we wished:
they have a unified service which treats all officers the same;
local officers have more to fear from 1997
than expatriates;
local officers are concerned that future
pension payments will not be made at all and have been pressing for a form of pension
capitalisation for some time;
morale among local officers is low and would
collapse if Hong Kong Government made a move
the interests
to protect
expatriates;
only
of
THIS IS A COPY
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN
CLOSED UNDER
FOI EXEMPTION NO. 27 (1)
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