EXTRACT FROM A LETTER DATED 7th JANUARY, 1946
FROM MR. KITSON TO SIR E. GENT
A
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On the question of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, we are in agreement with Keswick's suggestion that the Colonial Government might with advantage concern itself more with external, i.e. Chinese, affairs. We also agree that a Foreign Service Orficer with China experience should be appointed to serve in Hong Kong for this purpose.
We feel however that
such an officer should have a status independent of the Secretary of Chinese Affairs, that is to say instead of there bening a "Secretary for Chinese and External Affairs", to whose department the Embassy representative would be attached, there should be a Secretary for Chinese Affairs and a Secretary for External Affairs, the latter being a Foreign Service officer, who would be responsible direct to the Governor and also to the Ambassador, reporting to and corresponding with each as the occasion required.
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