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FROM: P F Ricketts, HKD
DATE: 31 January 1992
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4.C.Z
NEW GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG: SUPPORT STAFF
1.
2.
As agreed, I submit a first draft of an Options paper.
It is
There is one point which I have not included, because it is difficult to do so in a paper which will be cleared with the Governor. But it is one which I think Ministers will need to have in mind in addressing this problem. the point that if the new Governor is chosen from outside the ranks of the DS, it is very likely that he or she will have no previous experience of the Hong Kong administration, or of relations with China. Without senior support staff from London, such a figure would be heavily dependent on the Chief Secretary and other senior members of the Hong Kong administration in order to function at all. They would not be slow to expand their influence and establish a firm grip on the new man. While the senior expatriates in the Hong Kong administration have many qualities, their agenda and priorities are not the same in all cases as HMGS. This is another argument for ensuring that the Governor has, somewhere close to him, a British official with experience of working in Hong Kong, to guide
him around the reefs.
slidkette
PF Ricketts
Hong Kong Department
SUNADD/1
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