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policies and to help reach agreement upon them. We should also welcome similar visits in both directions by senior officials of the Hong Kong Government and HMG. A greater use of technical advisers from the ODM by the Hong Kong Government would be useful in providing an outside view in the planning stages of future developments in Hong Kong (in addition, that is, to professional consultants from other sources which are already widely employed).
34. The second and indeed more important requirement is that the Hong Kong Government should provide regular information on the implementation of the agreed programmes including the related fiscal measures. As indicated earlier, there is a need both for fixed targets and also for a degree of flexibility in implementation in the light of local circumstances. It would thus be helpful to both sides if a regular reporting procedure existed for the implementation of the programme to explain what progress is being made and whether the programme has had to be modified (giving reasons in the latter case). It is, of course, always open to the Secretary of State, where he is not satisfied with these reasons, or where he judges these to be outweighed by HMG's interests to issue Instructions./should be taken only after carefully considering whether the advantages of intervention howww, outweigh the risks of a clash making it more difficult for the
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Hong Kong Government to carry out the policies advocated in this Paper.
35. The Governor will, of course, need to remain the principal link between the Secretary of State and Hong Kong. His position is a delicate one, since he must represent the views of HMG to Hong Kong and those of Hong Kong to HMG: occasionally these conflict, and there is constant (if uninformed) suspicion in Hong Kong that local interests may be subordinated to British ones. A telling example is the Governor's inability to persuade Hong Kong opinion to accept the Secretary of State's refusal to support executions in Hong Kong because the population could not comprehend the refusal except in UK political terms not related to care for their welfare. On the other hand he
the was able to 'sell' the recent Defence Costs Agreement because/need to reconcile the interest of HMG in reducing their expenditure and the interest of Hong Kong in obtaining a credible commitment and a financia judicious contribution from HMG was comprehensible to the local population. Public clashes of interest between HMG and Hong Kong are rare; but when they do occur it is important that the population should trust the Governor to obtain the best possible terms for Hong Kong.
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