TOP SECRET
Flag
33
I consider that we
3. The report was considered at a meeting of the Ministerial
Committee on Hong Kong on 22nd September which the Governor of
Hong Kong attended (K(67)2nd Meeting, Item 2). The Ministerial
Committee agreed with the conclusions of the report that
contingency planning on the lines which the Defence and Oversea
Policy Committee had agreed should be studied could not be
carried out within the limitations imposed by security and that the
possibility was remote that any plan could be prepared for the
evacuation of significant numbers of people. However, before
reporting these conclusions to my colleagues, I invited the
Governor to report on the extent to which plans were already in
existence for the evacuation of specially vulnerable persons;
how far any such plans could be pursued without risk to security;
and also on the effectiveness of any plan which could be prepared
within the limitations imposed.
for Commonwealth Affairs (hard Shepherd)
4. The Minister of State/discussed this matter with the Governor
during his recent visit to Hong Kong. The position is that existing
plans consist of no more than incomplete and out-of-date lists of
vulnerable and sensitive people, It would not be possible to
revise and improve these lists or to make any worthwhile plans for
the evacuation of listed persons without extending beyond the
Governor and the Commander British Forces the knowledge that evacuation plans were being prepared in the opinion of the
Governor and of Lord Shepherd, which I share, to extend this
knowledge to other officials in Hong Kong on the scale necessary to produce meaningful plans would constitute an unacceptable risk. ↑
agree with this view.
5.
and
In my view we should take no action to plan for an
evacuation at the present time. If we were faced with a rapidly
deteriorating situation in which it became evident that we would
not
TOP SECRET