GONFIDENTIAL
From:
R. J. E. Abraham
Head of DS6
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
N?
1 APR 1975.
Main Building Whitehall London SW1A 2HB
HUDDIN
Telephone 91x9897022 x or 718 7036
P. L. O'Keeffe, Esq, CVO
Your reference
Hong Kong Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office King Charles Street London SW1
Our reference
DeaÒ
Roop
10
REF.
PA
D/DS6/38/168/3
Date
D
April 1975
15/4
143/5
EXPENDITURE COMMITTEE
DEASC
PROPOSED VISIT TO HONG KONG
You may already have heard that the Defence and External Affairs Sub-Committee of the Expenditure Committee in considering its future programme has had some initial thoughts about possible visits to Hong Kong in the autumn, with calls at Diego. Garcia, Masirah and Singapore on the way home. I attach a copy of a letter the Clerk to the Sub-Committee has sent to the Ministry of Defence Liaison Officer, which for the first time puts the Sub-Committee's ideas on paper and talks of a visit of up to four days to Hong Kong starting on Monday, 17th November.
2. My interest is confined to the Hong Kong angle. I have discussed the implications with our liaison officer, who advises that at this stage the Sub-Committee will have no very clear ideas of what they may hope to achieve. These will develop if they decide to go firm on the visit. At the moment they certainly seem to have no special objectives in mind, although they may well
In the normal regard Hong Kong as an attractive place to visit. course they might be content to see the Services at first hand and to take an interest in purely local problems. Equally, of course, the visit would provide an opportunity to enquire into basic questions of policy and this would be more likely to happen, if any issue had come to public notice during the year. If they wish, their procedures allow them to take formal evidence from witnesses.
3. I expect all this will be familiar ground to you and there must be a distinct possibility, in my opinion, that if the Committee visit this autumn, they will be attracted to the basic issue of the
This size of the Garrison and the financial arrangements for it. could create difficulties, if at that time we were still negotiating with the Hong Kong Government on these issues, but on the whole I believe we must assume that a settlement will by then have been reached: and certainly that it would not be plausible to suggest to the Sub-Committee that they should defer consideration of a visit until later on the grounds that the negotiations may drag out until the end of the year.
- 1 -
CONFIDENTIAL