(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500м 2/69 Hw.
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Kegistry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
/ Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
..In Confidence
DRAFT
ANSWER
Type 1 +
To:-
From
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
QUESTION
Secretary of State's Visit to Hong Kong
East of Suez Policy. Does British Military Withdrawal
East of Suez imply a likely early withdrawal of
British troops from Hong Kong?
ANSWER
No. As was made clear in the 1968 Defence White
Paper we shall honour our commitments to our
Dependencies and maintain a garrison in Hong Kong
sufficient to fulfil our responsibilities here.
2.
In view of the distance between Hong Kong and
the United Kingdom there will in fact be some increase
in the Hong Kong garrison next year as a result of
the withdrawal of British forces from Malaysia and
Moreover we shall retain a general
Singapore.
capability based in the United Kingdom which can be
deployed outside Europe after 1971 as circumstances
demand.
3. We shall demonstrate our capability to send
reinforcements rapidly to the Far East after 1971
during the course of Exercise Bersatu Padu which is
to take place in Malaysia this summer.
1
(The