CONFIDENTIAL
THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG
The Governor is The Queen's Representative, titular Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in Hong Kong, Head
of the Government and President of the Legislative
Council.
2.
Quasi-ceremonial duties include being Chancellor,
or the equivalent, of all six of Hong Kong's tertiary
level institutions and Patron of seventy-seven
organisations. These responsibilities take up a certain
amount of time but are not otherwise onerous.
3.
The Governor's chief function is to be Head of
Government, ie Chief Executive, of the territory. Hong Kong has a population of 5.8 million. It is the 11th largest trading territory in the world and has an economy
the size of Malaysia and Singapore put together. It is an increasingly prosperous and complex society with a per capita GDP of some US$14,000 which places it second in
Asia after Japan and well above several members of the
European Community. The issues to be dealt with match the complexity and significance of the territory · with
the China factor as an added dimension.
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4. The political structure of Hong Kong is
significantly different from that of any territory elsewhere of equivalent size and wealth. According to
the constitutional documents, a great deal of power
remains in the hands of the Governor personally. He
appoints the members of the Executive Council; about a
CONFIDENTIAL
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