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rely, if necessary, on commercial aircraft and commercial
over-flying routes.
Political Implications
5.
Complete abandonment of our commitments and activities outside
the NATO area would have far-reaching implications for our defence
This would further
and foreign policy in general and serious repercussions in other
critical fields. In broad terms it would signal to the world Britain's
unwillingness in future to contribute to world peace and Western
interests through a military presence, except where narrow British
and NATO physical security was directly threatened.
reduce our world standing already damaged by our economic situation
and doubts about cur weight in Allied councils and thus our ability
in influence world events. It would effectively end Commonwealth
links in the defence field. And it would mean the abandonment for the
first time ever of HMG's responsibility for the defence of our dependent
territories, even though some of them are under the potential threat
of external aggression; this would affect our political credibility
and belief in our readiness to honour our contractual and constitutional
obligations.
6. We cannot escape some political, and possibly some commercial,
damage if we make any significant reductions in the non-NATO area.
However, the selective retention of sane commitments and activities,
some of them for only a limited period of time, would enable us to
protect essential British economic interests, eg in Hong Kong, maintain
a valuable contribution to Western activities in areas which our
NATO Allies regard as important, eg Cyprus, provide a minimum level
of activity in support of general British interests and the US
military presence, eg in the Indian Ocean, and honour our obligations
to dependent territories until we have tried to make alternative
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