4.
CONFIDENTIAL
THIS IS A COPY
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN RETAINED IN THE DEPARTMENT UNDER
SECTION 3 (4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958
Localisation
5. As agreed, HKG announced on 30 July that overseas
agreement (contract) civil servants who are Hong Kong permanent
residents will be allowed to transfer to local terms of service.
The announcement drew intense criticism from the press, LegCo and local civil service groups. The NCNA were given advance briefing on 28 July, but the Chinese side continue publicly to
criticise HKG for "lack of consultation", and for "threatening stability". (We expect them to raise it in the JLG). In all,
about as bad as response as we could have predicted.
6.
By-elections to LegCo (28/7) and to the Regional Council (8/8)
Gilbert Leung, convicted of bribery on 1 June, has now been replaced as the Legco representative of the Regional Council constituency by Tso Shui-vai, a pro-China member of the Liberal Democratic Federation and closely connected with rural
interests. Leung's Regional Council seat was won by Lam Wing-yin of the UDHK. But the pro-China DAB came a close
second.
The Minister might like to see the attached note on Party
Affiliations of LegCo Members, prepared by Ms Saunders.
1.
HMOCS
8. The planned meeting between the Secretary of State and
Mr Portillo was postponed until September. The Governor told us during his visit that he did not see any scope for us to explore
roundup.GEN
SLN
CONFIDENTIAL