UK EYES ONLY
TOP SECRET
Part I to COS 44th Meeting/67 6th June 1967
of reductions in 1967/68 in the Far East as a whole are
being interpreted as including Hong Kong
although the
decision to reduce the garrison there has not yet been
announced. We therefore recommend that the decision to reduce is shelved at once for 1967/68. This would allow CINCFE and CBF to allay suspicion by ceasing staff work connected with the withdrawal and would allow the Governor, if it were thought desirable, to issue a specific denial of reductions this financial year. Since it is necessary to give the units concerned six months notice to move, the decision must be announced by the end of September if wo are to achieve the proposed reduction by 31st March 1968. It seems unlikely that the situation in Hong Kong will have become stable enough in the next three months to allow this.
4.
Meanwhile we have told the Commander-in-Chief, Far East, that planning on the current reduction should proceed as discrectly as possible. This will not enable a great deal of preparation to be achieved and an early decision will be necessary if it is decided that planning for the move should continue.
We
5. We reaffirm that on military grounds the correct size for the garrison of Hong Kong is 63 major units. strongly recommend that the preparations for the withdrawal of the Artillery Regiment, less one battery, and the Pack Transport Squadron should be suspended at once and that the withdrawal itself should not take place in this financial
year.
CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE STAFF
5.
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UK EYES ONLY