TNAG-1587-FCO40-2171-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-1986 — Page 92

A košen.

LANG AGE

4.

*

I doubt that we will have a great need for

I

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 Consul General at first at

least would almost certainly need to be a sinologist.

would guess that he would need two or three other

sinologists on his staff. We can see advantage in the

First Secretary Pol/Inf speaking Cantonese, and possibly

some commercial officers, as the majority of Hong Kong's

population will continue to speak Cantonese. We should

bear in mind that it may be possible to recruit

expatriate Cantonese speaking Hong Kong Government

officers before 1997 to fill these needs