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Under the 1988 Defence Costs Agreement (DCA), 65% of the full costs of the garrison are met by the Hong Kong government. In 1992/3, this amounted to £135m.
3. The garrison has to be withdrawn in its entirety by 30 June
1997. For a period of up to nine months to 30 June 1997 the land
element of the garrison will be
be provided by a single UK battalion. This will be accomplished by two battalions in
succession, each of which will complete one temporay unaccompanied deployment of up to four and a half months. Current
plans for the period prior to that envisage a staged withdrawal
of forces, with the aim of maintaining a balanced military capability, based around two infantry battalions, to carry out
the tasks set out above until late 1996, taking into account
improvements that have been and continue
continue to be made in the
ability of the RHKP to carry out internal security functions.
(For example, the RHKP now have full responsibility for policing the Sino-Hong Kong border.) However, the requirement for the land element of the garrison and the RAF and Army helicopters deployed to support it is being increasingly questioned in the Territory. The Finance Committee of LEGCO effectively has a power of veto over any government expenditure proposals. It is the Governor's judgement that the entire DCA could be called into
question unless it can be demonstrated to LEGCO that the costs
of the garrison are declining steadily from year to year. (He has already ruled out approaching LEGCO for additional funds and the
Hong Kong government has been in breach of the DCA because of an unwillingness to seek a supplementary estimate from LEGCO which
led to a delay in payment of their share of the full costs of the
garrison in 1992/3.) He therefore sees no alternative to a more rapid run down of the garrison to one based around a single infantry battalion, accepting that this means giving up its capability to support the police without external re-inforcement.
4. From the UK point of view, there is also advantage in
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