TNAG-1331-FCO40-1758-Future-of-Hong-Kong-test-of-the-acceptability-of-the-Joint-D-1984 — Page 174

SECRET

3.

We began work on Thursday, 27 September 1984,

the day after the terms of the draft agreement on the

future of Hong Kong had been announced and published in

a White Paper, which refers in paragraph 32 to the Monitoring

Team.

THE MONITORING ROLE

4.

Our terms of reference required us "to observe

the work of the Assessment Office in all its aspects"

and to answer four specific questions:-

(a)

Has the Assessment Office "discharged its duties"

properly?

(b) Has it discharged them accurately?

(c)

Has it discharged them impartially ?

(d)

In discharging its duties, has it faithfully

followed the procedures presented in its terms

of reference ?

To some extent those questions overlap each

other; we approached them as follows:

5.

(a)

If the Assessment Office was to discharge its duties properly, it had not only to perform

them accurately and impartially, but also to

carry them out with the maximum efficiency on

the basis of faithfully applied procedures.