HE Sir Murray MacLehose
SECRET
16 September 1976
Planning Paper and, more importantly, the time scale for their introduction. However, we in the Office feel that we too should play a part. Our part will be through the medium of the regular visits to Hong Kong mentioned in paragraph 4 above, combined with a very positive effort to receive senior officials (and unofficials) of your Government during their annual leave; as well as, of course, special ad hoc visits by the Heads of those Departments particularly concerned with putting the measures in the Planning Paper into effect. We are conscious that we must ensure that the visits of your officials to the FCO do not degenerate into a routine half hour of pleasantries. We shall try hard to make sure that when your chaps visit we really do have something worthwhile to talk about with them.
5. It will be a vital part of the monitoring process that all parties inside the FCO should be kept informed of the progress of your development plans. I have recommended that a small Standing Committee be established to monitor progress. It will include representatives from the Economists and Overseas Labour Adviser, Legal Advisers, the Far Eastern Department and, of course, the Hong Kong Department, under the Chairmanship of a superintending Under-Secretary. The Committee will meet quarterly.
6. We are very well aware of the need to keep "the China dimension" constantly in mind. We shall, in consultation with you, the Embassy in Peking and Far Eastern Department, monitor any signals coming from Peking or Canton and bring Far Eastern Department and Peking into our discussions.
7. When you went to Hong Kong you introduced a series of arrangements for posting Diplomatic Service and Home Civil Service oflcers to Hong Kong, partly to bring in their specialist expertise, and partly to bring some fresh minds into the Hong Kong Civil Service. For various reasons this was mot, I gather, a wholehearted success. Nevertheless, we here feel that the proposal is so important that we should make further efforts to make it work properly. This, of course, is primarily a question of picking the right candidates. I am discussing with the Civil Service Department and POD some ways of bringing this desired result about.
8. We have also been considering a reintroduction of the old beachcombing system whereby Colonial Service officers spent some time on secondment in Whitehall. This was discussed at some length between 1970 and 1973 but I understand that the proposals ran into the ground. We have started up the discussions again with the CSD and the administration here to
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