TNAG-2662-FCO40-3858-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-1992 — Page 44

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incumbent to deal with the bulge of work generated by the

completion of, and move into, the new building; and to see

through the transition in 1997.

Legal Work

13. The Hong Kong Consultative Committee have suggested that

delicate legal work during the transitional period could

justify posting one legal officer to the future

Consulate-General. The JLG would not by then have access to

legal advice from HKG.

Political Section

14.

Certain aspects of political work in Hong Kong are

covered in a sensitive annex. In 1997, the British

Consul-General will take over responsibility for promoting the

full range of British interests in Hong Kong including

reporting on political developments there in the same way as other British missions. Preparing for this role will be the

most sensitive part of the exercise. We need to reconcile two

conflicting objectives:

-

not undermining the Governor as the single source of advice

to Ministers on Hong Kong issues until 1997. The Governor has

accepted that members of UKRep JLG should do some informal

political reporting on Hong Kong provided that this is copied

to him. But he has seen a political role for the SBTC as more

sensitive.

giving SBTC the tools he needs (in terms of staff and of

political contacts around Hong Kong) to perform effectively as the Senior British representative in the territory after 1997.

brief.consgen.BTC

JEB

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