1
L
HON KONG
NO.
8.
CONFIDENTIAL
GOVERNCH,
sir,
Colonial Office,
139
Downing Street,
sprit, 1946.
6 May
I have the honour to inform you that I have had under consideration the question of the functions of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs in Hong Kong. It has been represented to me that, in the past, the occupant of this port was almost entirely concerned with the local affairs of the Chinese inhabitants of the Colony and that neither he nor any other officer of the Hong Kong Goverment was charged specifically with the duty of keeping in touch with public affairs and political thought in China itself. I have, moreover, been infomed that in the past few officer of the Hong Kong Government have had the time to study the Chinese mainland scene or to maintain any sustained personal relationship, and interchange of ideas, with representative Chinese.
whether these statements are accurate I am not in a position to judge, but I am satisfied that in the beat interests of Hong long it is essential that all responsible officers of the Goverment should be required to keep them- selves currently acquainted with the general trend of affairs in China (especially in Kwangtung), and that there should be available to the Goverment of Hong Kong the informed advice of an officer who iɛ both fully conversant with these matters and in constant touch with His Majenty's Ombassy in Chinking.
3.
Among the suggestiona which have been made to me that a new post should b、 created of Secretary for External Affairs and that it should be filled by a Foreign Service officer with China experience who would maintain liaison between the Hong Kong Government and
His Majesty's Embassy, reporting direct to the Governor and also to the Ambassador and corresp-nding with each, ás occasion requires. Another suggestion which has been put forward is that the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs should be divided into two departments, the one concerned with local and domestic affairs and the other with external and political issues, and that the officer in charge of the latter should be sec^nded from the Foreign Service. A third suggestion which has been made is that the officers in charge of these two departments dealing with Chinese affairs (internal and external) should report to the Colonial Secretary, and that the post of Secretary for Chinese Affairs as such should be abolished.
4. My own tentative view is that there is likely to be a case, particularly in the immediate post-war years, for the greation of a special appointment to be filled by an officer charged with the particular duty of keeping
SIR MARK YOUNG, G.C.M.O.
etc.,
etc.,
etc.,
/himself
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