SECRET
Defence Staff Policy, who attended Mr Thomson's meeting, supported this preliminary conclusion. The present draft Defence Studies Working Party report contains no echo of the Governor's opinion. This is not surprising, since it was drafted before his visit. I have suggested to Mr Thomson that we should seek the amendment of the report by the deletion of the words
by a half" and
"
...
their replacement by "to a level sufficient for the maintenance of internal security only". This would not necessarily imply
an increase. In theory, it would cover the possibility of a greater than 50% cut. But it would avoid the appearance of exactness, which must be wholly spurious.
4.
Mr Thomson explained that the FCO tactics were to present the option of partial withdrawal as a viable alternative to the MOD's preferred option of total withdrawal outside NATO. The FCO should therefore avoid watering down the partial option in any way that would make it seem less attractive. If the Ministry of Defence concluded that a 50% cut in the garrison of Hong Kong would be too great
to maintain internal security, then it was important that they, rather than the FCO, should make the point in commenting on the Working Party's report.
5.
I accept the relevance of this tactical judgment but it does mean that a paper is going forward with the FCC's blessing, which agrees without qualification to reduce the Hong Kong garrison by half over time. If we wait for the MOD to demand changes, the demand may never come; and there is always the risk that the doctrine of the 50% cut will become enshrined and accepted by
Ministers.
6.
I have consulted the Governor. He thinks it very probable that, at the end of the day, part of the present garrison could be removed. It is also conceivable that Hong Kong could be persuaded to bear a greater proportion of the cost provided that it was properly presented to them. But he finds it objectionable that a report should go forward with FCO blessing which takes no account whatsoever of
his advice.
7.
I wonder whether you would think it worth considering the
/point