U.K. EYES ONLY
TOP SECRET
ANNEX A
FEASIBILITY STUDY ON EVACUATION OF HONG KONG
(Draft Report of Special Planning Unit)
A meeting of the Hong Kong Ministerial Committee on 24 July recommended that "a small group, including persons with local knowledge, should be established in the Commonwealth Office to produce a plan for the physical evacuation of British subjects and other persons for whom we had a special responsibility", Security requirements must be absolute since any leakage to Hong Kong that the possible need for evacuation was even being considered
would deal public confidence in the Colony a shattering blow. The Defence and Oversea Policy Committee confirmed that contingency planning should proceed and emphasised that knowledge of the exercise should be limited in Hong Kong
to the Governor and the C.B.F.
2.
In a letter to the Commonwealth Secretary, the Minister of Defence suggested that officials should prepare "as rapidly as possible, a general appreciation of the potential scope and also the security risks of evacuation planning relating to Hong Kong.....the appreciation should include a summary of the existing and strictly limited exacuation arrangements or specially selected personnel; the problems that would be presented by any wide form of evacuation planning; and the way in which we might expect to set about coping with any evacuation scheme if an emergency situation demanded it". The Commonwealth Secretary agreed with these suggestions and they have been taken as the basis for our first report.
3.
This paper considers the problem on the following basis:-
(a) Large-scale evacuation: who could be evacuated and
how in ideal conditions (paragraphs 4 6);
(b) the limitations imposed by security considerations
(paragraph 7);
(c) the limitations imposed by the situation likely to be
prevailing at the time that evacuation would be necessary (paragraphs 8-9);
(a) Operation "DIGIT" (paragraphs 10 –
11);
(e) conclusions (paragraph 12).
Large-scale Evacuation
4.
British troops in Hong Kong and their families total about 30,000, British nationals and Commonwealth citizens of non-Chinese race and their
TOP SECRET
/families
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.