SECTION 1 (CONT'D)
CONFIDENTIAL
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
sessions each year, rotating between Hong Kong, London and Peking. The JLG are due to remain in existence till 2000.
2.
The Post Objectives are annexed (A). The principal task is to fulfil British obligations under the Joint Declaration and to ensure Chinese compliance with its terms. These are requirements of the highest priority for HMG. For this task the JLG reed to liaise closely with the Hong Kong Government. The JLG also have a sensitive reporting function on internal political developments in Hong Kong. The Post objectives are clear, in general terms, but are not in the approved format. Post commented on the lack of formal dialogue with the Department about the objectives. It is important that this lacuna be filled. Only the Department can take an overview of the respective areas of responsibility of the various UK official presences in Hong Kong.
3. Our Mission have had a difficult task establishing themselves and making progress with their objectives. At the outset, when the Office opened, the Hong Kong Government was deeply suspicious of the JLG's involvement in what the Hong Kong Government perceived to be their own areas of responsibility. As progress was made on that front, the events in Tianamen Square, in 1989, intervened to cause a suspension of JLG activity for three months. Thereafter, till well into 1990, no substantive progress was made with the Chinese in the JLG. Even at the time of our Inspection, the atmosphere remained difficult: the autumn 1990 Plenary proved less productive than could have been expected. One consequence of this hiatus is to leave a substantial amount of business to be done, some of it delicate and contentious, in relatively little time.
4. Our JLG Team have done their best in frustrating circumstances. Morale has inevitably suffered from the insufficiency of mainstream productive work for much of the JLG's existence. The UK-based support staff have, in a sense, had the worst time of all. The appointment of a resident Senior Grade head of our JLG Office has reaped benefits particularly in meeting our objectives towards the Hong Kong Government and in the political field generally. The volume of work has increased and seems set to continue to do so.
The work itself has become more demanding. But problems remain which we address in subsequent sections.
5.
The staffing of the JLG in the period 1997-2000 is addressed in our Report on the British Trade Commission in Annex B to Section 1 (Overall Assessment) advising on the size and structure of the Consulate-General. We have assumed there for planning purposes that officers will be able to fulfil dual functions in the Consulate and in the JLG. However, as we note there and in the body of this Report on the JLG, difficulties may arise over such unified staffing.
2
CONFIDENTIAL
/6. The
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.