POLICE officers are concerned that a management instruction requiring them to stay away from a Beijing-appointed group may cause embarrassment.
Chairman of the Local Inspectors' Association, Robert Chau Chuen-kung, yesterday confirmed the existence of the confidential instruction, which was revealed by the South China Morning Post on Monday.
Officers were told that approaches by Preliminary Working Committee (PWC) members of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Preparatory Committee should be reported to the Security Branch.
Mr Chau said they would conform to it because they had to obey all lawful orders but he indicated there were circumstances when police officers might find the instruction difficult to handle.
''What if a police officer is a personal friend to PWC members? Will this instruction cause embarrassment to the officer or office bearers of the association?'' he asked.
''Another confusing area would be if a certain PWC member had double roles like being a legislator - we really don't know how to draw the line.'' He said a planned visit to China next month was an exchange of views with their counterparts and did not involve any formal contacts with the government.
