CONFIDENTIAL
HONG KONG DEFENCE COSTS AGREEMENT PRESS STATEMENT
1. The Minister of State for Defence, the Rt Hon
William Rodgers MP today announced in Parliament a new Defence
Costs Agreement with the Government of Hong Kong. This will
succeed the present 5-year Agreement which expires on
31 March :976. Mr Rodgers has recently conducted negotiations
in both Hong Kong and London, with representatives of the
Hong Kong Covernment led by the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose,
and the new Agreement was signed yesterday.
2. The new Agreement reaffirms HMG's commitment to the
security and integrity of Hong Kong and stipulates the
size of the agreed garrison, which will be smaller than in
the past but which will be reinforced should circumstances
so require. The garrison will in future include four
Infantry Battalions (three of them Gurkha), a Gurkha
Engineering Squadron, five naval patrol craft and an RAF
helicopter squadron. At current prices the cost will be
£421M a year, which is some £20M less than the present
garrison. The Hong Kong Government will meet 50% of the
cost of the garrison in the first year of the new Agreement
(1976/77), 621% in the second year and 75% in the third
and succeeding years, compared with a contribution in the
current financial year of about £11M under the present
Agreement.. The new Agreement will run for seven years
initially and will be renewed for further periods of five
years on the same terms unless either Government wishes to
vary them.
CONFLAMANTIL RELEASED
13. An