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In his discussions with the Governor Lord Shepherd had advocated a solution (acceptable to the Governor) whereby no charge would be
raised against Hong Kong for the capital cost of the aircraft; and
recurrent costs for the year 1970/71 would be borne elsewhere in the
first instance but would be taken into account in the negotiations
for the post-1971 defence contribution. These views were
communicated to the Ministry of Defence.
9. In the course of his subsequent discussions with the Defence
Secretary the Governor made it clear that he was quite unwilling to
contemplate any capital payment by Hong Kong for purchasing the
aircraft; and so far as operating costs were concerned, he
emphasised the difficulties with which he would be faced in asking
his Executive Council for any additional defence contribution before
1971.
The Defence Secretary then mentioned that RAF aircraft would
be visiting Singapore for training purposes for limited periods each
year after 1971 and that he would enquire as to the possibility of
occasional visits to Hong Kong forming part of these training
detachments. The Governor indicated to Mr. Healey that he might,
in the last resort, be content to accept such visits as a substitute
for the establishment of a permanent fighter unit in the Colony.
10.
1
As a result of the above discussions we addressed a letter to
the Governor at the end of August (copy attached) setting out the
extent to which visits could be made to Hong Kong by RAF aircraft in
conjunction with the post-1971 training programme already planned for
the Far East. The letter also gave details of the types of aircraft
which would be involved with provisional estimates of the capital
and recurrent costs (both of which would need to be borne by Hong
Kong) of providing for and operating such visits. In his reply 40. (copy attached) the Governor has indicated that subject to the
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