CO129-611-2 Liaison with British Embassy and consulates in China- appointment of political advisor 1-9-1945 - 20-10-1947 — Page 145

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Government of Hong Kong the informed advice of an officer who is both fully conversant with these matters and in constant touch with H.M. Embassy in Chungking.

3.

Among the suggestions which have been made to

pos & shochs be createdl

a heces

of Perretary for Etheria Appours

me is that there should be stationed in the Colony @ Ikas-is should be faded by

a Foreign Service officer with China experience

who would

for this purpose of maintaining liaison between

fas

the Hong Kong Government and H.M. Embassy, and that this officer should report direct to the Governor and also to the Ambassador (as 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 seconded 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

The cunctor of a special apple. The filled by years, for an officer charged with the particular duty of keeping himself au courant with affairs in China and maintaining constant contact with H.M. Embassy, and that this official might suitably be a Foreign Service officer seconded to the Hong Kong Government for a period of years, thus allowing the other officer concerned to devote his whole time to

domestic issues. I am inclined to think, however, that both these officers should be responsible in

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and coverponing

with each,