TNAG-0170-FCO40-206-British-Trade-Commissioner-1969 — Page 109

CONFIDENTI AL

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لله

12 December, 1968

#NDEXED

Status of the British Trade Commission

Office in Hong Kong

We have recently been considering with other Departments in the Office the present status of your office in Hong Kong and the possibility of any evoluntionary change in its activities and terms of reference in the course of the next few years.

2.

I will not trouble you with the rather lengthy paper and the comments that it provoked but I imagine you will be interested to know our conclusions. We are all agreed that, because of possible problems with the Chinese authorities in Peking and because of the reciprocity argument, it would be a mistake to contemplate any change in the character of the activities of your office in the foreseeable future. There has been talk, as you probably know, of a possible extension of activities into the political field, but this is clearly not feasible or even perhaps desirable, and from our point of view we shall continue to look upon your office as exclusively concerned with commercial and economic matters. Rounthwaite's activities are a logical extension of these interests and are not intended in any way to intrude into the political field.

3. Unlike most Missions abroad, your office has no geographical department within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with whom you are in regular correspondence. This is natural in the sense that the vast majority of your work is with the Board of Trade. It has meant, however, that internally here we in Personnel Department and our colleagues in Establishment and Organisation Department, have acted as a kind of "parent" Department for all your activities. This is perhaps something of an anomaly and we have now agreed that on any general questions where you might wish to consult the Office you should correspond with Hong Kong Department. You must, of course, feel free to write to us on all personnel matters as you have done in the past and to John Heath and his staff on establishment and organisation matters including conditions of service; there is a specific problem, such as information or consular work, you should write to the appropriate Department. When in doubt, however, I suggest that you should write to Hong Kong Department, who will be regarded within the Office as having a general supervisory role as far as you are concerned.

M.P.V. Hannam, Esq.,

British Trade Commission,

HONG KONG.

CONFIDENTIAL

14. Frankly,