CONFIDENTIAL
Failure on our part to reassure Hong Kong police officers now that at some stage after 1997 they might be able (depending on compliance with other normal recruitment requirements, etc) to transfer to another force in the UK or the Commonwealth might well lead many to leave the
before laat Hong Kong force/new. Such a drain on experienced police manpower would have adverse effects on Hong Kong's social stability going far beyond any immediate effect on the force itself.
A.
I
I would therefore very much hope that the Home Office will be able to provide a general formula of reassurance on the lines requested in Mr Clift's letter. (I would envisage that the FCO should pursue the question of transfer to other Commonwealth Forces - in practice Australia and Canada - with those governments direct.) think that in principle there should be no real difficulty in satisfying ourselves that service with the Hong Kong pollice post-1997 should not constitute service for a communist government. Under the terms of the Joint Declaration Hong Kong will become a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China in 1997, enjoying a high degree of autonomy (including full responsibility for the maintenance of public order in the SAR). Annex I to the Joint Declaration also provides "that after the establishment of the HKSAR the socialist system and socialist policies shall not be practised in the HKSAR and that Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and lifestyle shall remain unchanged for 50 years". These guarantees form part of an international treaty which both signatories have since registered at the UN and which Chinese leaders have repeatedly reaffirmed since the agreement was signed in December 1984.
5.
Could you therefore explore on this basis whether a general formula on the lines requested by Hong Kong could be provided by the Home Office? We would need to be able to quote it in full to the Hong Kong police staff association on request, and thus also to be prepared to refer to it publicly. But for the reasons given in para 4 above I see no reason why this should present us with any real difficulties of principle. Please do not hesitate to let me or John Kelland know if you need further background or advice on any point rated in this letter.
cc. Mr Kelland, OPA
HITABE
CO HUM
CONFIDENTIAL
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