1
CONFIDENTIAL
Annexes A and B have been drafted to take account of the current debate with the Treasury over which battalion should be retained in Hong Kong between 1995 and 1997 - the Secretary of State's note to the Prime Minister of 7 July refers. You will wish to note Q17 in Annex B which sets out the plan as in the OPD (K) paper, but with a suitable caveat. The strong advice from the Hong Kong garrison is that we should be prepared to go this far, given that the question of whether or not it is a Gurkha battalion that remains in Hong Kong is already one of the main lines of questioning from the media and is likely to continue to be once the announcement is made. I believe this is sound advice.
3. I should be grateful for confirmation that the Secretary of State is content with the attachments.
CONFIDENTIAL
Marte Hard
Шалт
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M L HOWARD Sec (O) (C) MB5314 86272MB