CONFIDENTIAL
which had originally been prepared by the Army
several years earlier to meet external armed
aggression: they had been Sited as a military
committment long before the nature of the 1967
disturbances became apparent.
Such works had
previously always been a charge to Her Majesty's
Government: they had been refurbished in 1967 by
the military authorities on their own initiative
and without reference to the Hong Kong Government
which sees no reason why it should meet the costs
involved.
X
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(2) The experiences of 1967 made it clear that
there was a more permanent need for a joint police/
military presence on the frontier than the purely
military situation might dictate. It was no longer
practicable to attempt to distinguish between a
threat to internal security and a threat of armed
aggression across the border
Accordingly, in
March 1968, the Hong Kong Government took the
policy decision referred to in paragraph 9 above.
(3) It was in accordance with that decision that exercise "Springclean" was undertaken, at the
request and on the initiative of the Hong Kong
Government, which agreed to meet the costs involved.
(4) The Hong Kong Government sees no reason why
the change in policy reflected by its decision in exercise "Spring clean" should be applied with retrospection effect to exercise "Highland Bonnet",
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office support the
/Hong Kong
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CONFIDENTIAL
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