SECRET
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1
JC Marchant Esq
996
Ministry of Defence Rain Building Whitehall
Telephone 01-
(3
31
Your reference
Our reference
Date
22 August 1974
Claw Marchant,
VISIT OF US OF S (ARMY) TO HONG KONG
1.
I have a few comments on the draft enclosed with your latter of 21 August. May I leave it to you to copy these to the other recipients of your letter as you think appropriate?
(a) I think we should tell Lord Brayley of the preliminary reactions of the Governor during his visits to London in the lest three months. Those may be overtaken by his study of our latest telegram. But I think they are likely to be maintained in one form or another. I would like to add at the end of your para. 3:-
"The Governor's preliminary view, conveyed to us while he was in the UK recently, was that, while Hong Kong should be able to pay a higher proportion of the cost of a somewhat smaller force, he thought it unlikely that this could be much greater in absolute terms than about the present 282
8 million. Hong Kong's budget is at present under strain, particularly to pay for a greatly expanded social programme, which is strongly supported by UK Ministers."
(b) I believe we should warn Lord Brayley that outside interest is probable. He is unlikely to be able to get away without a press conference of some kind. I would therefore replace the sentence in your para. 5 beginning "The following speaking notes
# with:-
"However you are also likely to encounter widespread interest outside that circle. The Governor's ability to obtain the maximum financial contribution from Hong Kong will be affected if there is any premature hint that he has been consulted. The following speeking: notes are therefore provided for use with outsiders.
(c) It is important in speaking about any decisions by HING affecting Hong Kong to make it plain that there will be consultations and not just discussions, and that these will take place before a decision is made. I would therefore suggest the following as the preliminary line to take in answer to any questions:-
/"There