TNAG-1376-FCO40-1824-Future-of-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 17

CONFIDENTIAL

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Bruce dividity

15

布政司署

FEC 284/2.

香港下亞厘畢道

本署檔號

**** OUR REFPONFRONT

300

YOUR REF::

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

IIONG KONG

94

4 October 1985

The Orr 10) Hr Gulsworth,

AUS, FCO.

Dr. D.C. Wilson, Esq.

ABU

10

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དད་ར

like to have

My Dear Dand girl way decision wolk

ми

MANDARIN INTERPRETERS

jerr

hour week.

We (collectively) have a problem. You are well aware of our heavy dependence on Y.P. Cheng; he interprets for the Prime Minister; he interprets for other Ministers; he interprets for the JLG: he Interprets for the Land Commission; and he interprets for .g. the Chief Justice of Hong Kong. Excellently though he performs and delightful though he is, this dependence in cessive. (The Governor has made the point in another context in separate corres- pondence with you).

Local efforts to broaden our options have failed signally. A studied effort has been made to find or train Hong Kong Chinese interpreters with potential, but so far we have got nowhere. Two ladies were under active preparation as potential successors to Y.P. They resigned during the summer for more lucrative john In the private sector.

Wo

are now expanding the Chinese Language Division to cope with the additional burdens of an enlarged Legco meeting weekly, and have a number of potential studies to .P. for Mandarin interpreting, but they have a long way to go before they could begin to match Y.I', The fact is that there is intense demand from the local private sector for good Mandarin interpreters and we think it will be difficult to establish a stable in Hong Kong.

This brings us to the UK emd. Scratching our heads we have come up with the following leas:

нин HAA 040/1 04011

RECEIVED IN RE

12 DEC 1985

OFSK OFFICER

INDEX

PA

(a) An FCO Mandarin interpreter. By this I do not

mean a mainstream officer who would do this on the side. The Office might train and carry on its books an interpreter designated as such. This would reflect the enormously increased flow and importance of oi elations with China (and the fact that political officers need be used Action Taken } as such, not as interpreters).

REG: AY

11/

4b)

Draw from the BBC External Services. is high Mandarin/English ability there. believe that it is where Y.P. began. The FCO

There

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