8/8
RESEA PRNA
Copy No./ Page 1 of 1 page
of 20 copies
60
MINISTRY
OF DEFENCE
MAIN BUILDING, WHITEHALL, LONDON, S.W.I
TELEPHONE WHITEHALL 7022
SECRETARY OF STATE
TOP SECRET
PERSONAL
UK EYES ONLY
MO/5/14
My dear Ber
1st August 1967.
Sir A. belowalley
At first sight the fof & sees no objection to this, but
doubt be letting us have
reply.
HONG KONG
no
you will
a
draft
0.6. Faster 1/2
I have been reflecting on the DOPC discussion of last Friday, 28th July (OPD(67) 28th Meeting, Item 8), and I have now seen the relevant Confidential Annex.
2.
This Annex confirms the invitation to yourself, "in consultation with other Ministers concerned, to arrange for contingency planning for the possible withdrawal from Hong Kong to be carried out on the basis indicated by the Prime Minister." It also brings out, however, the points which I made at the meeting about the prospects and risks of this work. I would like to suggest, therefore, that -
as the first step in the planning process we should ask officials to prepare, as rapidly as possible, a general appreciation of the potential scope, and also the security risks, of evacuation planning relating to Hong Kong. The military side of this Ministry should, of course, be associated with this task; and, as I envisage it, the appreciation should include a summary of the existing and strictly limited evacuation arrangements for specially selected personnel; the problems that would be presented by any wider form of evacuation planning; and the way in which we might expect to set about coping with any evacuation scheme if an emergency situation demanded it. There may be other points which it would also be useful to cover.
3. If you are content with this approach, perhaps you could arrange for the work to be set in hand so that we can consider the appreciation at a fairly early date in the Ministerial Committee on Hong Kong.
4. I am sending copies of this letter to our colleagues in the Committee, and also arranging for copies to go to No.10 and Sir Burke Trend.
Jaun
e
Decis
The Rt. Hon. Herbert Bowden, CBE, MP.