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Copy No.....34
DEFENCE AND OVERSEA POLICY COMMITTEE
CONFIDENTIAL ANNEX
OPD(67) 28th Meeting, Item 8 (FRIDAY, 28th JULY 1967 at 9.45 a.m.)
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The Committee considered a memorandum by the Commonwealth Secretary (OPD(67) 61) covering a report by officials on the prospects of a
withdrawal from Hong Kong.
THE COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY said that, at a meeting of the Ministerial
Committee on Hong Kong earlier that week, it had been agreed that, in
view of the current situation in Hong Kong, a study should be put in
hand by officials of what contingency plans could be made for the
evacuation of British subjects and of others to whom we had direct
obligations should our position in Hong Kong become untenable and also
of what might be done to safeguard our financial interests there in
these circumstances. Although evacuation plans would be difficult to
make without the kind of information which could only be obtained
locally in Hong Kong, it was nevertheless essential that an examination
of the possibility of our enforced evacuation of the Colony was taking
place should be confined very narrowly and that it should in no
circumstances become known in Hong Kong to anyone but the Governor and
the Commander-in-Chief; otherwise there would be an immediate and
very serious decline in confidence in the Colony which might make it
impossible for us to rotain control. There had recently been an
improvement in the situation in Hong Kong and in particular on the border
with China where regular troops had taken over control, but fighting was
reported to be taking place in Canton and we could not be sure that the
Government in Peking would retain control of Kwangtung Province.
In
Hong Kong itself the Government had placed about forty people in detention
and it had taken powers to detain British subjects who were citizens of
liong Kong. The Ministerial Committee would keep the situation under
review and had called for further studies by officials.
In discussion doubt was expressed about the proposal to carry out
a study of contingency plans for evacuation from Hong Kong. We should
not take the risk that this would become known in Hong Kong when it was
already clear that no effective plans could be made beyond those already Page 254 of 350
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