TNAG-0055-FCO40-91-Defence-review-1977 — Page 112

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10.

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(c) Malaysia, Singapore and the Far East.

(2) Apart from the amphibious force and the remaining Gurkha units, any land force contribution for the defence of Malaysia and Singapoe will have to come from reinforcements. By 1970-71 there would

be insufficient stockpiles of equipment and stores in the theatre for such reinforcements, and hence they and the remaining Gurkha units could not be effective in operations above the level of internal security operations (for which we have no Treaty obligations) for three months.

(ii)

Naval forces will be limited by 1970-71 to those needed to

maintain a naval presence in the Indo-Pacific area, for local

naritime patrol activities and for intelligence gathering;

they will be insufficient for a najor operation without

reinforcement from West of Suez. Similarly the RAF presence

will be severely restricted and will be dependent on reinforce-

ment from the United Kingdon for major operations. Royal Navy

and RAF forces in the theatre will, however, be available for

declaration to SEATO and to the Commonwealth Strategic Reserve.

(a) The Unforeseen. Forces in the theatre will be inadequate to deal

with "unforeseen" events in which the United Kingdom night

get involved.

(e) Dependent Territories. Any reinforcement for any purpose of our remaining dependent territories in the Indo/Pacific area will only be possible by the use of the amphibious force or

by the despatch of forces from the United Kingdon.

In short before 1970-71 it will be necessary to secure a specific

understanding with Malaysia and Singapore that our Treaty obligation

would be limited to the presence of maritime forces and air forces, both

of which would be highly dependent on reinforcement from West of Suez, and

to secure a clear understanding that land forces could not be guaranteed

for major operations in under three months. Force declarations and timing

to SEATO will have to be progressively reduced each year with a "Nil" return for land forces from 1969-70 onwards. It is highly desirable that the obligation to Brunei should have been fully liquidated by 1970-71;

we are already working to this end.

11. By 1975-76

There will be no military forces on the mainland of Asia (apart from Hong Kong). It follows, therefore, that our Treaty obligations will need to have been modified accordingly. Equally the whole basis of our

membership of SEATO, assuming it still exists, will also need to be

re-negotiated. In both cases any force contribution will have to be on an

"if available" basis. Reinforcements for our dependent territories will need to come from West of Suez unless the maritime presence in Australia contained an amphibious element.

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