TNAG-0915-FCO40-1126-Inspection-of-British-Trade-Commission--Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 13

CONFIDENTIAL

room 30 it seems to us unlikely that the window on the 9th floor will need to be barred. But this is for Security Department to decide and advise the post urgently so that local works can be put in hand if necessary. Security locks will also be needed on the door between the corridor and room 34 and on the doors to rooms 24, 26 and 28.

14. Between now and April next the new First Secretary in charge of the CTU can be accommodated by sharing an office or making use of room 21, a spare room with no outside light. This is a matter for local decision during the comparatively short interim period during which permanent accommodation is being planned. If a DS7E is added before April 1980, there will be no alternative to sharing an office temporarily.

15.

After April next it will be best if two Chinese LE I Commercial Officers and the DS7E Assistant Trade Commissioner (Mr Orr) can be moved into the area of the present rooms 3, 4 and 5 (whose occupants will go into the Determined Production area) and the DS6 Trade Commissioner can be moved into room 22 so as to free rooms 24,26 and 28 to provide permanent offices for the DS5 and DS7E to be added to the CTU, plus an interview room/spare office. It will be presentationally much better to move a UK-based officer as well as the two Chinese LE Is and the interview room/spare office will be well used, not wasted space. Short of a major new layout for the whole of the 9th floor of Gammon House it seems unlikely that either the Press Research Unit or the Civil Aviation Advisers Office can be moved in there until such time as the offices sub-leased to Thomas Cook Ltd can be recovered.

RECOMMENDATIONS

a DS5, DS7E should be added to the complement of the China Trade Unit;

16.

We recommend that

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

all three desk officers in the Unit should be accredited to Peking and operate within the terms of reference at Annex A below;

a Confidential registry should be set up in the CTU and an $2 Secretary/Registry post added to the complement;

commercial translation services should be authorised for up to 90,000 words p.a. for commercial information material for distribution to China through technical and industrial magazines published in Hong Kong.

(v)

should the demand, and results achieved, indicate that a greater volume of translation is required the addition of an LE III translator should be considered;

CONFIDENTIAL

/(vi)