COM
Note for File: NS 155/76/98C
Copied to NS 151/76/980
Posting of Dutch Law Enforcement Officer to Bangkok
The Dutch Consul-General spoke to me in the absence of the Commissioner for Narcotics on 2 March to say that he had been instructed by his Government to advise that a Dutch liaison officer would be arriving in Bangkok to carry out the narcotics duties discussed by Mr Van Agt, Minister of Justice, when he was in Hong Kong in January. He said that the officer would be stationed in Bangkok, but would have responsibility for the region, including Hong Kong. He, therefore, enquired what my reaction would be to a request from his Government for the officer to be registered as an Attache to the Dutch Consulate-General. I replied that I would have to seek advice on this point.
2.
I discussed this proposal with the Political Adviser who confirmed that registration was a matter for the Director of Protocol, but that the officer did not need to be registered to visit Hong Kong and to carry out the necessary liaison with the various Government agencies concerned with narcotics. Mr Donald said that from the Protocol point of view, Hong Kong tried to discourage officials, who were not resident in Hong Kong, from being registered and he rehearsed certain difficulties which might arise in respect of representatives of non-EEC countries if we agreed to the proposal.
3.
I advised Mr Johnston, Narcotics Bureau, of the proposal and we agreed that we should repeat to Mr Laboyrie the fact that the officer would not, of course, have any Police or constabulary powers.
4.
On 3 March, I told the Dutch Consul-General that registration was a matter for the Director of Protocol, but that my preference would be for the officer not to be registered as an Attache in Hong Kong. Mr Laboyrie confirmed that he would be a Police officer so I made the point about constabulary powers, which Mr Laboyrie readily understood. Ialso made the point that from the narcotics point of view, we would prefer not to take any action which seemed to infer that there was any particular link between Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Mr Laboyrie also took this point and said that he read our conversation as indicating that we would be happier if, as planned, the officer resided in Bangkok, making such visits to Hong Kong as were desirable, but without having any official status here. I agreed and said that at the operational level those concerned would be only too anxious to give the officer every possible assistance in Hong Kong.
Security Branch
3rd March, 1977
cc: D of P, PA, CSP/NB,
A
Cfor N (on file)
W.
Secretary for Security
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