9.
CONFIDENTIAL
THIS IS A COPY THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN CLOSED UNDER
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FOI EXEMPTION NO.........)
the commitments contained in the Colonial
Service White Papers are very clearly made by HMG and aimed directly at HMOCS officers;
any measure directed at HMOCS would not be given the requisite financial approval by LegCo;
the cost of capitalisation for all officers would jeopardise the 'state of the reserves' agreement recently reached with China;
the Chinese would not agree anyway.
Taken in context, I find these arguments overwhelmingly convincing. In other territories we had the carrot of the voluntary handover of independence with which to induce incoming governments to accept the sterling protection of expatriate pensions, and on virtually every occasion the transition of power took place at a time of fixed exchange rates. There is no historical precedent for the sort of handover of power which is to take place in Hong Kong. The fears of the local people are very real
10.
Although HMOCS staff will play a key role up to 1997 and beyond, it is vital that the importance of local officers is fully recognised. Quite apart from the immorality of protecting one small group rather than the whole, such a move would make management of the public service extremely difficult. Everyone we saw spoke with one voice on this subject and did so in a manner which had no doubt been well coordinated. But Our
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