b.
LOCSEN
SECRET UK EYES A
The Future of Withdrawn Battalions. The future
disposal of battalions withdrawn from Hong Kong will bear on LTCS and the future of the Brigade of Gurkhas. These will be high profile political decisions but, to enable the Army Department (AD) to carry out its responsibilities, decisions on force levels will need to be timely. This will
be necessary to preserve morale, discipline and standards factors which will in turn have a bearing on stability in the Territory.
C.
The Vacation of Barracks. It is desirable to vacate
barracks occupying prime urban sites as soon as possible to minimise the likelihood of their use by the PLA.
In
addition, there is a need to provide barracks close to the border for the PTU IID Companies. (Detailed discussion is at Annex I Appendix 1). It is becoming apparent that the PRCG also have views concerning their future requirements for barracks in Hong Kong.
WITHDRAWAL SEQUENCE
OPTIONS
52. Given that the final 'Sovereign Force Hong Kong' will comprise either 2 battalions, or a single battalion group (situation dependent), plus a reserve battalion in Brunei and given that the final presence should be a UK unit - the possible withdrawal sequence options are as follows:
a.
Option One. The UK and a Gurkha battalion would be
the first and second to be withdrawn, in whatever order,
leaving two Gurkha battalions. One of these would be
replaced near the end by an unaccompanied UK roulement battalion, which would then be the last to leave.
b.
Option Two. As in Option One, but with no UK
roulement battalion, thus leaving 2 (or one) Gurkha battalion(s) at the end. A token UK presence could be maintained at the end by retaining or bringing back a UK
company.
COS S/172/11
25
UK EYES A
SECRET
LOOSEN