TNAG-1587-FCO40-2171-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-1986 — Page 73

b)

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Group (which will continue to 2000) also being

Consul-General.

Political Section: this looks a bit weak.

The

c)

d)

e)

senior representative on the JLG will need at least

one First Secretary in support, who could be added

to the Political Section and undertake other tasks

as well (ie a Political Sections of 2 x DS5 and 1 x

DS7).

Commercial Section: this will certainly need to be

substantial. At the moment trade with Hong Kong is about three times as important as trade with China, and the Consulate-General will have to carry on the

work of the South China Trade Unit after 1997. The Administration will need however to carry out a more scientific study of our likely needs in due course,

in conjunction with the BTC.

Consular Section: there are 32 million BDTCs in

Hong Kong now, and there will almost certainly be

over 3 million BN (0)s after 1997. We will need a

large passport renewing facility as well as capacity

for substantial entry clearance work. I am not in a

position to comment on the staffing of this, and I

think we will need to look at this further with the

Hong Kong Immigration Department once we have some experience in issuing BN(0) passports (beginning on 1 July 1987).

Other Government Departments: I understand that the figure of 8 is almost certainly too low.

Language

4.

I doubt that we will have a great need for Cantonese speakers in the Consulate-General after 1997, apart of course from locally engaged staff. English will continue to be widely spoken, and Mandarin will probably be the official

language. The first post-1997 Consul-General should almost

certainly be a sinologist. I would guess that he would need

two or three other sinologists on his staff. We can see

/advantage

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