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Confidential
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HONG KONG HMOCS ARRANGEMENTS: BRIEFING THE CHINESE
- If you judge it desirable to say more about the timing factors, possibly in response to questiong about this about by Guo, you should draw on the following:
The
"The obligation to introduce special arrangements for HMOCS officers is a constitutional one which HMG cannot shirk. This is a problem left over from history which now requires solution. The issues have been outstanding since 1985. need to conclude them now has been reinforced by the imminent approach of the deadline date for all Hong Kong civil servants to opt whether or not to join the new pension scheme, As the terms of the HMOCS arrangement may have a bearing on which scheme the officers choose, and for contract officers on whether they decide to become pensionable, we should promulgate the arrangements well before June this year. We have stated that we shall open consultations with HMOCS officers before Easter.''
- If Guo suggests that these arrangements may cause divided loyalties for the officers concerned after 1997, you should draw on the following:
''nobody should be under any misapprehension that the arrangements to be made for HMOCS officers will in any way affect the duty of those officers to give their full loyalty to the HKG up to 30 June 1997 and to the SARG thereafter. HMG stand by the clear statement in the JD that expatriate officers in employment after 1 July 1997 shall be employed only in their individual capacity.''
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Confidential