DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
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Secret
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PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
(ii)
£ 2.5 million. I have provided you with a
minut draft Letter from the Foreign Secretary to the
Chief Secretary explaining why we consider HMG
is committed to spending £ 4.5 million. If
this is accepted by the Treasury, Finance organise the inspired
PQ
Department shall then aise at official level
to ensure we can begin spending from the
£ 4.5 million fairly shortly. I um we will need the total sum well before December.
Repatriation:
assuming
Before we can give the Treasury
and Parliament (via the PQ) a firm idea of how
much and why we expect to spend before December
(when we can expect formal approval from
Parliament) we need to assess whether we can
square the various complications.
it, there are two major problems.
As I can see
First, can
we go ahead on the basis of the Governor's
promise to fund the first, and possibly the
second, tranche of repatriations before he
approaches the Hong Kong Legco, Finance
Committee? Secondly, can we begin to make
payments in the light of the above in time to
meet the proposed first travel date of 17 July?
that we The fact must be announced through an inspired
PQ, our intention to begin repatriation which
means we must explain to the Treasury what
stance the Hong Kong Government is presently
taking on this matter and what we intend to do
if Hong Kong subsequently refuses to meet half
the costs. If the answer to the second part of