4.
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part of this administration and that by some means or other
arrangements must be made for a senior and experienced
official to devote the greater part of his time to close
study of the affairs of China and in particular to the exami-
nation of all matters in which these affairs should affect
or may be affected by the general policy and the particular
actions of the Government of Hong Kong.
7.
If it is agreed that this constitutes a need which
requires to be met as early as possible it becomes necessary
to consider the manner in which this official is to be
selected and the nature of his relations with the existing
Secretariat for Chinese Affairs and with the Governor, and
also with His Majesty's Embassy at Nanking and with the
Consul-General at Canton.
8.
On the former point, I would strongly deprecate
the appointment of any outside "expert" to officiate as
"liaison officer" between this Government and the Chinese
Government. I mention this at once because I understand
that there are several persons who have put forward claims
to some such appointment as this both in Chungking and in
London during the latter part of the war and the succeeding
period, and because I am convinced that the appointment
should be made from the ranks of the whole time officials
of either the Foreign Service or the Hong Kong Cadet Service.
Of these two alternatives I prefer the former as a temporary
expedient and the latter as an ultimate solution. The tem-
porary expedient of attaching a Foreign Service officer to
this Government for the above-mentioned purpose would be of
the greatest value to us, since at the present time the
Hong Kong Service would find it most difficult to provide
a suitable officer for the appointment, both because it is
short handed, and because practically all the senior members
of the Service have spent the period 1942 to 1945 in intern-
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.