TNAG-0105-FCO40-141-Letters-Patent-and-Royal-Instructions-including-change-of-ti-1969 — Page 49

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21,10,68.

NOTES ON ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION WITH

THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG:

22-23 OCTOBER, 1968

SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS:

CHANGE OF TITLE

The Governor of Hong Kong has proposed that the Hong Kong Royal Instructions should be amended in certain respects. One of the amendments that he suggests is that Royal Instructions II and XIII should be changed by substituting the title of "Home Secretary" for that of "Secretary for Chinese Affairs"

2.

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Since 1845 there has been a post in the Hong Kong Service with special responsibilities towards the Chinese community. Originally styled "Registrar General", it was in 1913 restyled "Secretary for Chinese Affairs" which remains the present title. This title, although appropriate at a time when special measures were required to protect the interests of the Chinese population, has become increasingly anachronistic, particularly since 98% of Hong Kong's population of four million people are Chinese by birth or origin. Today the Secretary for Chinese Affairs has three roles: as the Governor's principal official adviser on Chinese values and problems within Hong Kong; as a direct channel of communication between the Government and the Chinese people of Hong Kong;

and as the executive authority for a number of special statutory or administrative responsibilities.

3. The title of "Home Secretary" is by no means an ideal one and was selected by the Governor only after a number of other

The main possibilities had been considered and discarded. objection to it is that it may produce a reaction from the Communist Chinese Peoples' Government in Peking. That Government (and indeed previous Governments of China) regard Hong Kong as part of China to be recovered by negotiation at the appropriate time. They are quick to criticise and reject any suggestion that Hong Kong is a country" in its own right. They might therefore consider that the new title carried the implication that Hong Kong, as distinct from mainland China, was "home" for the vast majority of the Colony's inhabitants and express objection to it in one way or another. It might also serve to encourage a vocal minority of residents who are urging that Hong Kong is now "home" for a large number of them and that there should be visible recognition of a Hong Kong "identity" or "citizenship",

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4. The term "Home Secretary" is a somewhat anachronistic survival in the United Kingdom: it does not provide here, any more than it will in Hong Kong, an accurate description of the responsibilities and functions of the office. We understand that the Chinese translation of "Home Secretary" carries more the meaning of "Secretary for Internal Affairs", but the Governor doubtless sces objections to the use of this title in English.

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