12.
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In answer to a question H.E. said he did not think
the HK Government would wish to demolish Flagstaff House, although future service commanders might prefer to move to HMS Tamar. It was also suggested that it might be sensible to retain a 5 acre
site east of the present site at Victoria Barracks but the F.S. emphasised that this was essentailly a planning question. At Kai Tak the HK Government envisaged retaining some 10 acres for the HK Auxiliary Air Force and it might be possible to keep a minimum RAF presence on the same site. On the other hand it might suit both sides best if the RAF were to leave Kai Tak altogether. The HK Government acknowledged that the planning and design stages of reprovision would take time but confirmed that they would
complete the necessary accomodation very fast once construction
started.
13.
On the length of the new agreement, the Minister of
State said that in his view there was no chance of the UK Government
accepting a 10 year term. He would be prepared to seek authority for a 7 year agreement but would prefer to agree a form of words that left their option open for the time being. H.E. agreed that
the length of the agreement had not been much discussed but added
that a 5 year agreement would cause him great difficulties.
14.
The Minister of State said that if no agreement could be reached before his departure he could not consider himself bound to
any particular proposition. Negotiations would come to a standstill
and he would have to seek new authority. This would allow those in
the UK favouring a hard line to re-agree the whole package. In these circumstances it would be necessary to issue either a joint statement explaining why no agreement had been reached or two separate statements reporting the positions adopted by the two sides and
saying that each had been prepared to make some concessions.
15.
H.E. agreed there was a risk of the package being reopened if no agreement was reached. But he was prepared to reach an
agreement in principle provided this remained confidential.
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