TNAG-2329-FCO40-3373-Hong-Kong-contacts-with-academics-and-writers-1991 — Page 11

S.15.

S.16.

after 1997 being required more readily to accord precedence to the need for overt demonstrations of loyalty to government rather than concerns for the merits of individual issues which fall to be decided. I would like the Working Group suggested in Part Five to consider the issues, in order to see if what I have written in the paper is fair, and to seek out other areas of Hong Kong's life to see if analogous concerns apply.. (See paragraph 4.8) I understand the view that

"it is widely accepted that China does not want to take over Hong

Kong which is too independent and unruly.'

But I am concerned that civil servants may not be in the best position to marshall their strengths on this problem. For example, is the following true?

'Existing bureaucratic norms do not enable officials to appreciate

their roles and responsibilities fully, but since Hong Kong's welfare hinges to some extent on the sensitivity and courage of civil servants, a new set of administrative values are required to bring the service in line with the social and political changes which Hong Kong is now experiencing.

The PRC takes all opportunities to affirm its own sovereign rights, invoking "sovereignty" where the concept of "one country, two systems", genuinely applied, would actually mandate reference to "law". Under the Joint Declaration and Basic Law, the issue is whether actions in Hong Kong are lawful or unlawful. Here the differences between Chinese and Hong Kong conceptions of law and administration become apparent. In Hong Kong, everything is lawful which is not expressly prohibited by law. Genuine application of the concept of "one country, two systems" will preserve the difference in approach. Thus, my concern is that the difference between "controlling power of and under law" and "absolute pre-eminence irrespective of law" not disappear. If it were to do so, the determinant of PRC attitudes towards the SAR, suspicions which are not easy to assuage, could be converted into unlawful and offensive action to the cost of Hong Kong's "lifestyle" and potential. (See paragraph 3.21) This, too, is a question of administrative values and practice. (See also a note on corruption and ethics in government in paragraph 2.22 (p).

In Part Six of this paper, I make a proposal concerning the Vietnamese Boat People in Hong Kong. After a preliminary examination of some relevant issues, I believe that it is possible that much of the effort put into this problem by Hong Kong government officials may be in some important measure misdirected. There is no doubting the effort and expense being put into the problems; rather I believe that somewhere along the line, something seems to be going wrong. I believe, if I may say so, that I could perhaps contribute towards putting the system right, if given access to detailed working procedures, files and