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CHINA'S post-1997 Foreign Ministry office will have the largest team of diplomats in Hong Kong, with many of the 200 staff likely to be employed to 'watch' foreign government representatives, the media and suspect organisations.

  Senior mainland officials fear the Special Administrative Region (SAR) could become a hotbed for hostile foreign forces plotting trouble for the Beijing Government.

  Western diplomats yesterday said they believed some of the ministry's staff would have a 'watching brief'.

  Its headquarters, now under construction, are to be completed before 1997 and will house the Visa Office and Chinese Office of the Joint Liaison Group after the changeover.

  The offices' current premises at the China Resources Building in Wan Chai have fewer than 70 mainland staff.

  Details of the new headquarters, such as the total number of staff, its functions and relationship with other foreign consulates, have yet to be spelled out by China.

  Various sources put the ministry's workforce at about 200, which will be the largest in the SAR. The present US Consulate, one of their largest in the region, is believed to have about 180 staff. Britain's new consulate after 1997 will have about 60 British officials.

  A senior Western diplomat admitted many diplomats did not know what the Chinese office would do after 1997, apart from issuing visas and governing Hong Kong's participation in international organisations as laid down in the Basic Law.

  He stressed many Western diplomats hoped the office's tasks would be clarified, adding: 'We hope that the status quo will be maintained.'   He said it was important for Hong Kong to maintain its international image and present arrangements, noting the territory had the world's largest number of foreign consulates and representatives after New York.

  But the diplomat said he was confident China would take into account Hong Kong's special situation and would not impose strict controls on the activities of foreign countries in the SAR, as it did on other parts of the mainland.

  Foreign consulates and media stationed on the mainland have to go through the Foreign Ministry for approval on matters such as accommodation and recruitment of local staff.

  The diplomat said: 'We hope that there will be minimum change of how things operate now. But the Foreign Ministry will have a large number of people here. It's hard to say what they will probably be doing.'   Another Western diplomat expressed surprise at the size of the Foreign Ministry's headquarters, but said: 'I don't think they have thought through the need. They just want to have an office and living quarters that can house as many people as possible.' 



China staff set to 'keep watch' in HK