CONFIDENTIAL
Registry HKK ola
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
DRAFT
letter
To:- R. Haynes, Esq.,
Ministry of Defence.
Type 1 +
From
29
W. S. Carter Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
In Confidence
Flag A
Flag B
I am replying in John Moreton's absence to your
letter to him AUS (AS)/F2 of 29 May about fighter
aircraft for Hong Kong.
2. My main purpose in writing at this stage is to
let you have the information in the enclosed copy of
a telegram that we have just received from Hong Kong.
who
is now in Hong Kong) You will see that Lord Shepherd has already discussed
the question of the fighters with the Governor and
with the CBF, Hong Kong. We fully take your point
about the need for an early decision in this matter,
but we very much hope that you will find it practi-
cable to meet the Minister's request for a decision
to be deferred until after Mr. Healey's visit to the
Colony later this month (24-26 June). I should appre-
ciate it if you could let me know as soon as possible
whether this can be done so that I can tell the
Governor in good time.
3. I do not think that there is much point in my
commenting at this stage on the proposals in the
second paragraph of the telegram except perhaps to
say that the suggestion at B) would, I think, dispose
of both of the difficulties that you mention in the
third paragraph of your letter. (To be equally frank,
I do not think that the second of those difficulties
has much substance it could in any case be easily
insured against.)-
(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500M 2/69 Hw.
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
CONFIDENTIAL