HKK 22/5
PINK
Defensive
CONFIDENTIAL
Brief No.!
PB
Secretary of State's Visit to Hong Kong
February, 1972
Defence Contribution
Points to be made
(1)
It has been the accepted doctrine since the
last century that a dependent territory
should contribute towards the costs of its
own defence according to its capacity to
pay.
(2) It is true that few, if any, other
colonial territories have contributed to
the cost of their own defence on the same
scale as Hong Kong has done over the years.
But this tends to obscure the fact that
many territories have not paid defence
contributions because they have been defended
by essentially local forces paid for from
the local budget to which Her Majesty's
Government has contributed as necessary.
(3) Even with the many other calls upon its
budget, which undoubtedly exist, for the
provision of social and other services,
the Colony's prosperity is such as to enable
it, without undue difficulty, to contribute
towards the costs of its garrison on the
scale that has been agreed. The presence
of the garrison is of undoubted economic
benefit to Hong Kong and indeed helps in
a vital way to engender and maintain that
/confidence...
CONFIDENTIAL