95 D073528 400M 2/74 Cr.P.C. 839/3
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified,
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
DRAFT
SECRET
letter
To:
!
Mr Howard Smith
Cab. Off.
Type 1 +
FROM
1
J E Jackson
Telephone No. Ext,
Department
Mr Hockaday,
MOD
Mr Hall,
Treasury
DEFENCE REVIEW:
HONG KONG
1. At the Sub Committee meeting on 4 November you asked for a suggested passage on Hong Kong fo r inclusion in any Parliamentary statement or
statements. It is rather difficult for us to
provide this until we know more about the final form
of any such statements, but the following comment might be useful at this stage.
?
2. As you know, we should prefer any statement or
statements about Hong Kong and other non-NATO commit- ments to be restricted to something along the lines of the first three sentences of para. 5 of the draft enclosed with Arthur Hockaday's letter DUS(P)407/74 of 1 November to you (though the precise wording would need further thought).
3. If anything further had to be said about Hong Kong, we think on the basis of our earlier con- .sultation with the Governor that it would have to be
along the lines that "there would be consultations with the Hong Kong Government about the level of the forces appropriate in the present circumstances and about how the cost of these forces should be divided in future". This would reflect the line on costs which Miss Lestor took yesterday in answer to a Parliamentary Question from Sir Anthony Royle.
4.
We should be opposed to any reference along the lines of para. 19 of the draft enclosed with Arthur Hockaday's letter to our intention of making "some