SECRET
"FM FCO
TO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG
TELNO 246
OF 101344Z MAR 93
SECRET
HKA 063/1
19 MAR 1993
TRY
REGISTRY Adion Taken
INFO IMMEDIATE PEKING, UKREP JLG HONG KONG
23
057004
MDHOAN 0141
ра
PERSONAL FOR GOVERNOR FROM SIR J COLES
16
YOUR TELNO 342: HONG KONG: GARRISON WITHDRAWAL
Thank you for this account of your thinking. There are clearly a number of difficult issues here and it was helpful to be forewarned about them.
1 -
Can I first set out the bureaucratic position.
2.
Hong Kong Department are keeping close tabs on the MOD's thinking. We understand that the Defence Secretary plans to write to you shortly, enclosing a short paper which will be designed to secure your and the Foreign Secretary's agreement to a broad policy framework against which the detailed 1993 review of the withdrawal plan can then be conducted.
You may
want to wait for this before writing further to Mr. Rifkind. His Letter to you will be copied to the Foreign Secretary, and we will certainly take that opportunity to chip in, bearing in mind the points in your telegram.
3.
On the role of the garrison, we recognise that there is a widespread perception in Hong Kong that the garrison now does very little of practical value and that it (and its costs) should be shrinking. I am sure you would agree. that we should not therefore assume that the garrison could never play a useful role. We all devoutly hope that circumstances will not arise before 1997 where you need to redeploy police from the border to deal with a breakdown of internal security. But there is a case to be made as part of showing Britain's commitment to Hong Kong up to 1997 for keeping enough in-place British forces in Hong Kong to make a worthwhile contribution if trouble on that scale ever did blow up. As countless war-games over the years have shown, timely decisions to reinforce can be particularly tricky, given worries about inflaming an already tense situation.
There is also a Chinese angle, as Sir R McLaren points out in his telno 352. This is not decisive, but it needs to be borne in
4.