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account not only the considerations referred to by
the Unofficial Members in Part II of their memorandum
but also all other aspects of relations between
Hong Kong and the UK.
5. You may think it worth mentioning point about
increase in GNP made in your discussions with
Mr Healey in June 1969. If GNP in Hong Kong is now
about US $ 700 per head it seems that costs of
defence plus the police plus £8.5 million defence
contribution amount to only 2 per cent of GNP while
the UK spends 5.5 per cent of GNP on defence alone
and Singapore, for example, 4.9 per cent (1969 figure).
You could also perhaps point out that an annual
.
contribution of £8.5 million for five years would
amount in total to little more than the Colony's
expectedbudget surplus for 1970/71.
local
6. It is also a fact that the/spending power of
the Forces has recently been increased by an
estimated £1 million annually as a result of the
military salary award.
7. HMG appreciate that few if any other Dependent
Territories have contributed to the cost of their
own defence by HM Armed Forces on the same scale as
Hong Kong has done over the years.
But this should
not be allowed to obscure the fact that many
territories have not paid defence contributions to
HMG
because they have been defended by essentially local
forces paid for from the local budget.
8. Hong Kong is not unique as a Dependent
Territory in that it receives little aid for
development purposes from HMG. The Bahamas and
Bermuda are both in a similar position.
9.
It is true that Hong Kong's sterling balances
(8430) Dd.033246 600m 9/66 G.W.B Ltd Gp 863
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