TNAG-1587-FCO40-2171-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-1986 — Page 81

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CONFIDENTIAL

R&R h Mr Kemp OIR

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8830/18

Sir Antony Acland KCMG, KCVO Permanent Under-Secretary of State Foreign & Commonwealth Office LONDON SW 1.

Dear Antony.

CONSULATE GENERAL AND RESIDENTIAL

IN HONG KONG AFTER 1997

BRITISH EMBASSY,

PEKING.

19 December 1985

Alo Matris PPD

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PS/PUS

Chief

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Sir W. Harding

Dr. Wilson

Mr. Galsworthy, HED Mr. Bertram, OED ACCOMMODATION Mr. Masefield, FER For draft deply please

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Thank you for copying to me your letter of 7 November, to Teddy Youde on this subject. If you believe that this is a matter about which we should begin talking to the Chinese soon, then I agree that a suitable opportunity for a first approach would be in contacts between the Secretary of State and Wu Xueqian during the State Visit.

2. I am also in firm agreement with you that HMS Tamar would not be a suitable site for our Consulate-General after 1997, for the reasons you give in paragraph 4 of your letter.

3. I was surprised by the size of the establishment you contemplate for the Consulate-General. The profile of the Consulate-General will be high, and there will be a great deal of work, not'least of a labour-intensive kind, for the staff to do. But the establishment is a great deal larger than the present establishment of the Embassy in Peking. The Embassy may grow in size over the next 12 years.

But I doubt whether its establishment will to match the contemplated establishment for the Consulate- General. Given that the Consulate-General will be a subordinate post of the Embassy, and that the Chinese will be inclined to draw political conclusions from the relative size of the two posts, I wonder whether it is right to think in terms of quite such a large establishment.

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RE Holloway Esq CMG British Trade Commission HONG KONG

Sir Edward Youde, GCMG, MBE Governor, HONG KONG

RICHARD EVANS

CONFIDENTIAL