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
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
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
to protect only the interests expatriates;
of
3