SECRET AND PERSONAL
6.
All this places an immense administrative load on the
Governor. It has only been sustainable to date because all
recent Governors have had prior experience of Hong Kong
and/or China and have been civil servants, with a background
in Whitehall and the bureaucratic skills to conduct a
personal telegraphic dialogue with the FCO (and the Ambassador in Peking) on policy issues in addition to running the Hong Kong Government.
Political Adviser
7.
The Political Adviser (sometimes a Counsellor,
sometimes a senior grade officer) and two officers on his staff are the only Diplomatic Service officers seconded to (and paid for by) HKG. They are not housed in Government House, but some distance away in the Central Government
Offices. The Political Adviser's role is not to assist the
Governor in dealing with Whitehall, but primarily: to
conduct liaison, on behalf of the Governor and Government of
Hong Kong, with Chinese representatives in Hong Kong; to advise the Governor on relations with China in the run-up to 1997; and to advise him on developments in China. The
Political Adviser also performs some "external affairs"
functions: briefing visitors, dealing with the Consular
Corps and the Governor's travels, etc. Another significant
function is that the Political Adviser (as an officer
seconded from the DS) is the only person in the Hong Kong
Government apart from the Governor who sees certain sensitive CX and GCHQ reports. He therefore acts as the
channel to the Governor for this material and for other
intelligence matters, and defector cases.
MAIAAT/3
SECRET AND PRSONAL
/8.