TNAG-0056-FCO40-92-Evacuation-plan-1967 — Page 36

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Hong Kong attended (K(67) 2nd Meeting, Item 2). The Ministerial Committee agreed with the conclusions of the report that contingency planning on the lines which the Defence and Oversea Policy Committee had agreed should be studied could not be carried out within the limitations imposed by security and that the possiility was remote that any plan could be prepared for the evacuation of significant numbers of people. However, before reporting these conclusions to my colleagues, I invited the Governor to report on the extent to which plans were already in existence for the evacuation of specially vulnerable persons; how far any such plans could be pursued without risk to security; and also on the effectiveness of any plan which could be prepared within the limitations imposed.

4. The Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs (Lord Shepherd) discussed this matter with the Governor during his recent visit to Hong Kong. It would not be possible to make any worthwhile plans for evacuation without extending beyond the Governor and the Commander British Forces the knowledge that evacuation plans were being prepared and, in the opinion of the Governor and of Lord Shepherd, to extend this knowledge to other officials in Hong Kong on the scale necessary to produce meaningful plans would constitute an unacceptable risk. I agree with this view.

5. I consider that we should take no action to plan for an evacuation at the present time. If we were faced with a rapidly deteriorating situation in which it became evident that we would not be able to hold out for very long then we should have to concentrate all our endeavours on mounting a "crash" operation to effect the evacuation of as many vulnerable and sensitive person as we could manage. At that stage we could seek American and/or Australian co-operation and mobilise transport in conjunction with airlines and shipping companies. Such an operation would have to be hastily improvised but in the circumstances in which it would be mounted there would be few (if any) inhibitions about making overtly the most effective arrangements we could.

6. I should mention that officials of the Australian and United States Governments have informed us that they are seeking to draw a joint plan to ensure that in the last stages of a total breakdown of internal security in Hong Kong (short of a Chinese take-over by armed force) all sensitive Australian and American personnel and as many of their other nationals as possible would be evacuated. This