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2.
was carried out smoothly and without disrupting the Singapore Governmont's
current economic plans. They wore therefore prepared to give significant aid
to help meet the consequences of the run-down. In this context, Mr. Lee had
already agreed to the visit of a fact-finding team of experts who would bo
arriving on 26 April.
·
3. Mr. Healey said the Government also felt it necessary to look at the
longer term Thoy folt they could not rely on being on the mainland of Asia
by the mid-70s and they therefore proposed to adopt as a planning assumption that they should be off the mainland by thon. It was possible that tho
Government would decide to retain somo military capability in the Far East
aftor they had left the mainland; but no decision had yet boon taken on this,
nor on the composition, role and deployment of any such force. No doubt tho
views of Britain's allies on the desirability of such a continuing capability
would bo takon into account when the docision was reached.
4. Mr. Healey said that the local implications of those new policies wore
as unwelcome to those on the British side of the table as they were to the
Singapore Government. The British Government were determined to soo that the roductions were made in an orderly way. For that reason they wished to identify the problems in good time in consultation with the Singapore Government so as to deal with them in an agreed manner as effectively as
possible.
He pointed out that, on the planning assumptions he had given, it
would be 9 years before the last British forces left and theroafter thure
might still be a continuing dofcnce obligation, though there was no decision on
this yet. There were other parts of the world where Britain retained ·
obligations without a continuing military prosence.
5. In response to questions from Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Mr. Healey explained that current thinking was that when the half-way mark was reached the bulk of British
forcos would be maritime and air. On the other hand, Britain's Commonwealth
allios were reluctant to seo the Commonwealth Brigade disappear and no final
docisions had yet been taken. Ho confirmod that there was a now target for
the defence budget which was several hundreds of millions of pounds below the
old target of £2,000 million. Reductions wero boing mado in Europe and the
Mediterranean as well.
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