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60
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Reference.....
Mr J S Bennett CMG, Research Department
PREVIOUS COLONIAL PRACTICE ON DEFENCE CONTRIBUTIONS
1. I attach a copy of a letter which we have received from Hong Kong.
2. As background, you should know that, under the Defence Review, it is envisaged that the Hong Kong garrison will be reduced and that Hong Kong will pay a larger defence contribution. At present, this is of the order of 20-25% of the Colony's total defence costs and amounts to some £8 million per year. Ministers would like Hong Kong to contribute 75%; Hong Kong claim that this is not possible, but accept that some increase in their contribution is inevitable. It is clear from Mr Davies' letter that the Hong Kong Government would like to have concrete instances of actual contributions made by British colonial territories (and India) in the past towards their own defence, and details of what percentage this represented of the total cost of defence for that territory. They no doubt would like to be able to quote such figures to critics within the Colony to show, first, that in demanding a defence contribution from Hong Kong HMG are not acting in a way contrary to past practice with other British colonies and, second, that a higher percentage than that which Hong Kong are at present paying is not unreasonable (assuming the figures bear this out).
3. I should be grateful for any information you can provide towards meeting Mr Davies' request.
D K Timms
18 February, 1975. Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept.
cc G&GD
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