140
ANNEX C
Jespa.
2575
4)
25 September, 1970.
br.
In Leslic Monson's absence on love I am replying to your letter of 15 September (DUS(F)155/1) about the Hong Kong defence contribution.
2.
By way of explanation of our views on the draft lotter to tho Dovernor enclosed in your lettcz I feel bound to say that the Ministry of Defence's record of our meeting on 7 September deale Dumowhat summrily with. Monson'a interventions and appears heavily to favour the vicws expressed both by representatives of your own Ministry and the Treasury. Whilot vo ngzoed that the points in parsgraph 2(a) to (c) of the record chould be put to the Governor and that these could have the cffect of ultimately producing a Hong Kong contribution in excess of 28 million, I do not recollect that we agreed to seek an overall increase in his £3 million figure. Indeed, 12 you will look again at Monson's letter of 5 August (13K 16/9)," which pute the FCO view, you will see that he saidthat the Governor was certainly right "in his judgemont that this is the maximus he could hope to secure and that ho will have difficulty in persuading his Executive Council to agree to this figure." Moreover, even the record of the mecting does not suggest that there was any #greement to put the suggestion to the Governor (an Gedling now proposes) that if the Colony did not asound "a realistic share of the cost of its internal security usacures by the end of the period covered by the agreement" it might be necessary to reconsider the size of the garrison.
3. I think it is worth recalling also that our objective in proceeding as we have on this occasion, withthe Governor giving us informally the best figure which ho thinka ho might be able to convince his advisors to accept, was to prevent a repetition of the events of 1966. It is worth remembering that after visiting Hong Kong in 1966, for the express purpose of negotiating the precont contribution, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies went on record as caying that "there was a vory real possibility at one stage that unofficial mombers would feel obliged to tender their resignations. But fortunatoly end under the strong leadership of the Governor the majority of the unofficials accepted the need for an increase and evolved the offer to contribute £5 million a year for a period of four years."
4.
As a result of a continuing clash of interests between G und the Hong Kong Government, mainly in the economic and commercial sphorce, our relations with the Colony are if anything worse today
/than
E.H. Gwynn, Esq., CB,
Ministry of Defence,
"
S.W.L
DECHINT
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