FINAL
SECRET
Sir M Quinlan GCB
Permanent Under Secretary
MOD
Whitehall
LONDON
HONG KONG: COMMANDER BRITISH FORCES ON EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
The Foreign Secretary minuted to the Defence
Secretary on 6 January supporting the Governor's
recommendation that the new Commander British Forces
(CBF) in Hong Kong should not be a member of the Executive Council. You and
We subsequently had a word about this on the phone.
As you know, the Governor has reconsidered the
timing of this proposed change in the light of two
developments. First, the announcement of his own
departure later this year means that there will be a new
Governor who will want to take his own decisions on the
composition of his Executive Council. Second, the
Governor has discussed the proposed change privately with
two former CBFs. Both said that in their view it would
be helpful to an incoming CBF to be able to take his place on ExCo even if a new Governor subsequently decided
that he should stand down.
The Governor was struck that two former CBFs should
separately give him this advice. He attached weight to it, and given the change of Governor during 1992 he now
SECRET
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.