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TATES SE CARES ANTES DESIGNE
Brunei
(ii)
For political reasons we aim to disentangle ourselves
from the commitment to Brunei as soon as possible.
In the
light of progress towards this objective and of decisions made
with respect to the FPDA and Hong Kong, we would aim to inform
Brunei that we shall be withdrawing the Gurkha Battalion, probably
in 1976.
Gurkhas
(iii) In the light of whatever is decided on the structure of
the army and on future strengths in relation to Hong Kong and
Brunei, the Government of Nepal may have to be told that we shall
run down the Gurkha Brigade with the object of total disbandment
in five years' time.
Five Power Defence Agreement
(iv) We would confirm the consultative commitment. One possibility
might be to withdraw all British military forces stationed in
Singapore leaving only our contribution (5 men) to the Integrated
Air Defence System. The Minister of State for Defence, however,
concluded, in the light of his preliminary consultations with our
partners in the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), that
given a Hong Kong garrison on the reduced scale envisaged in paragraph 4(i), we could maintain our support for the FPDA with
a small residual support force of about 100 men in Singapore, combined with occasional detachments from Hong Kong and periodic
Naval and RAF visits.
Such an arrangement might be needed for
about 5 years.
Indian Ocean
(v)
We would give up Gan and rely, insofar as we shall need
any facilities in the area, on those at Diego Garcia. Both the
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