MO 6/19/1G
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Mr Richetto HUD
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PS/Lord Caithness
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BRITISH NATIONALITY (HONG KONG) ACT: LOCALLY ENTERED
GARRISON STAFF
31
Following my visit to Hong Kong last month, I am concerned about the implications of the disappointing outcome of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act in relation to local personnel employed by the garrison in both civilian and military capacities.
Some 3,800 Hong Kong citizens work for the garrison. About 1,500 are in uniform as Locally Enlisted Personnel (LEP), 1,200 in the Army (the Hong Kong Military Service Corps) and 300 crewing and supporting the three RN patrol craft and the associated Naval base. The remaining 2,300 are Locally Employed Civilians (LEC) carrying out a wide range of administrative, technical and industrial tasks. Although these numbers will reduce as the size of the garrison progressively decreases between now and 1997, our current plans assume that a substantial number of local personnel will be required until near the point of final withdrawal. If we are to avoid the expensive and disruptive alternative of deploying service manpower from the UK we need to ensure that those local personnel that we require remain in post through what could be a period of substantial uncertainty.
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