TNAG-1846-FCO40-2621-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 118

Public Orth

Defere

шкента

Reach penalty.

- In practice HMG exercises its powers mainly in relation to constitutional issues and to matters concerned with Hong Kong's security and external relations, although even here the Governor has been entrusted with the power to conduct external commercial relations and to conclude specific Air Services Agreements with Third Countries. HMG's approval is also needed for certain senior public service appointments and for legislation in certain limited areas such as currency and banking matters.

But even on these matters, there is, in practice, frequent consultation between the Governor and the Secretary of State and their senior officials. Heavy volume of daily traffic between FCO and Hong Kong Government. Governor also comes to London 3/4 times a year for detailed consultation with Ministers and officials.

Over the years, the trend has been for Hong Kong's autonomy to increase. This is not surprising in the case of a dependent territory as large and sophisticated as Hong Kong (twice as large as Singapore). Hong Kong's problems are so varied and complicated that it would be simply impossible to administer Hong Kong's internal affairs directly from London or even to monitor them in any detail. In order to do so, we would require machinery at this end to match that in Hong Kong which has almost 2,000 civil servants, compared to less than a dozen officials in HKD, plus two Under-Secretaries.

Role of Hong Kong Department and Hong Kong Government Office

HKD has a dual role. It acts on Hong Kong's advocate in Whitehall and as the Secretary of State's adviser on the territory. Department has to strike the right balance between the two. This means ensuring that both sides are aware of the pressures the other

is under.

HKD advises Ministers on all aspects of policy towards Hong Kong. Includes all matters related to implementation of Joint Declaration and work in preparation for 1997; but also matters of present policy which have external implications (e.g. boat people).

Vietnamese