C.S. 41A
2600077
10,000-2/68-B59873
REF.
ECON 4/5401/69
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R+R K6/13
COLONIAL SECRETARIAT
LOWER ALBERT ROAD
HONG KONG
26 April, 1969.
Lose
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tactics is pursue this again.
A discution on
possibly the first step. Thank you for your letter HKK 6/13 of 26 February about the supply of economic and political information to Hong Kong from certain Embassies and High Commissions.
2.
I had not in fact seen or heard of the correspondence about supplying information for the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation and was rather astonished when I did see the file. My letter of 3 February was a separate initiative and reflected my assumption that British diplomatic missions would find it simple and unobjectionable to send us copies of general reports graded Confidential or less.
3.
I am grateful to you for taking up the issue again. I do not know whether you can successfully disassociate it from the unhappy argument about the Export Credit Insurance Corp. but I think you could stress that the present proposal is designed to provide background information for the Depart_ment of Commerce & Industry, a department of the Hong Kong Government, not detailed information for the Credit Insurance Corporation, a quasi-independent body. You could also stress that the
Political Adviser's office would act as a filter; we would not pass on anything which we thought to be particularly sensitive. That would be in addition to the checks operated by the originator. I myself would have thought therefore that the chances of anything embarrassing resulting from this arrangement would be negligible. When I think of the vast amount of classified information handed out almost mechanically to the governments of the independent Commonwealth countries I am led to think that the proposal I am making on behalf of Hong Kong is extremely modest.
4.
The "junior staff" we have in mind includes not only members of the Administrative Grade but also some "professional and administrative grades", i.e. Trade Officers. They are of course accustomed to handling classified material and, as I have said, I do not propose to send them anything marked Top Secret or Secret. If by any chance we received a document marked Secret we could arrange to show it if necessary to the Director, Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors only.
5.
As I see the problem, it is essentially one of improving the supply of print to my office and then leaving it to my office to decide how much to pass on to the Department of Commerce & Industry. I hope that you will be able to make some progress. If you do, I should like to add to the posts listed in my draft Lagos, Ottowa, Vienna, UKDEL to EEC and UKDEL to OECD.
2
12.
W.S. Carter, Esq., CVO,
Hong Kong Dept.,
F.C.O.,
LONDON, S.W.1.
Your ever,
Arthur.
(A.F. Maddocks)
RECEIVED IN
REGISTRY No.51 - 2 MAY 1969
HILK 6/0
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