CONFIDENTIAL
about is Peking's impact on the public service: police officers and administrators may be asked to adopt a very different way of working from what they know; and the orders from the top will be different. We do not want these doubts to become public.
WHY NOT WAIT UNTIL NEARER 1997 ?
-We have already delayed far too long since 1984; the issues will not become easier. HMOCs officers will not wait: many will vote with their feet unless we announce a decent scheme
soon.
-Chris Patten will have a tough job. The last thing he needs is a demoralised cadre of expatriate civil servants, thinking less about their present jobs than how they can get new ones. Hong Kong's approach to 1997 bristles with intractable problems: this one is uniquely within our power to solve.
CONFIDENTIAL
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