FOREIGN AFFAIRS DEBATE: MONDAY 10 NOVEMBER
HONG KONG DEFENCE COSTS NEGOTIATIONS (IF RAISED)
1.
The House will recall that in announcing the Government's conclusions on the Defence Review we made it plain that although our main defence emphasis must be on our contribution to NATO, we recognised that we had inescapable commitments to retain forces But we also in the dependent territories including long Kong. said that in Hong Kong we would be making economies in the forces and seeking from the Hong Kong Government a larger share of their
Since then both cost in the next cost-sharing agreement in 1976. Governments have had preliminary discussions about the future size of the garrison and the future cost-sharing arrangements, leading up to the recent visit by My Rt Hon Friend the Minister of State for Defence who has had intensive negotiations with the Hong Kong
Government on both aspects.
2.
My Rt Hon Friend's visit resulted in two important steps. Firstly he secured agreement on the future level of the garrison; this will be reduced to 4 infantry battalions, engineers, 5 naval patrol craft and a helicopter squadron and resulting in a total annual saving of over £20 million compared to the original garrison. Secondly the Hong Kong Government accepted that in the future it would have to bear a substantially higher proportion of the total cost than it has in the past.
3.
The Hong Kong Government were naturally anxious that we should recognise the difficulties this will pose for them in relation to their planned social expenditure. We are taking this into account as well as possible release of Hong Kong owned land used by the Services, and some technical financial points. Governments hope to resolve these issues quickly and to make a fuller announcement before the end of the year.
Both