JULY 3, 19#.
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FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC "REVIEW
A:JT, SU ZEYLADAS
HONGKONG AFFAIRS
On Guard!
!
h
"HE vacillations and uncertainties of
British government policy-making
1
were on view last week. ECGD (Export Credits Guarantee Department). officials turned up at the cocktail party to launch the cross-harbour tunnel and toast the success of a'l venture which their negotiators had been less than sure about until the eleventh hour Then Defence Minister Denis. Healey, who flew in after five-power, defence, talks in Canberra, announced he was not here to talk about the only issue which 'seemed to justify a visit from a British Defence Minister the question of troop, costs for the Hongkong garrison, after," 1971. Perhaps Healey caught the,mood of the present Wilson Cabinet best,
when he told the press that it was not going be him who would. negotiate on troop
"thank God".
costs
+
1.
Healey's attitude seems odd in view, of the British government's apparently whiter-than-white intentions of reinforc
!
ing Hongkong when troops from Singa- pore will no longer be able to come to the Colony's aid in an emergency. Can
there really be such trepidation in White rities about the price of supporting merely an extra battalion just 700 men after 1971? Or is it that the Labouri Government is developing a conscience. about the practicability of its defence drawal? strategy' after the East of Suez with-
Repeated statements from London have assured Hongkong that the troops stationed here, for which local taxpayers are paying $80 million a year already, will not be deployed elsewhere in Asia after 1971. Crises elsewhere can be dealt with by Britain's strategic reserve, it has been stated, who need a mere 24 hours notice to establish their presence in Asia. But Mr Healey's statements made after the Canberra talks do not seem to carry quite the same conviction and have al- ready prompted Conservative politicians to ask whether the Government was not reversing its policy.. The racial riots in reversing its policy.. The racial riots in
•
Malaysia must also have 'reminded the British Government that there are sub- stantial investments in this region which require protection. In Hongkong, the
Detence Minister went so far as no state:
"It is even possible to imagine a situation in which Britain might play a larger role [in Asia after 1971]." ́
}
Clearly, Hongkong has no wish to be-1 come a forward. reinforcement base on the Singapore pattern if it is the Colony's taxpayers who have to bear a high pro- portion of the costs to maintain troop strengths above the level, needed locally. When the question of paying for our de- fence costs is raised with London next year (whoever is at the negotiating table), the Colony's authorities must make sure they know exactly what Hongkong is being asked to pay for. Nor can there be any question of moral obligation on Hongkong's part to pay the costs of extra troops over and above the level needed for the Colony's own security needs after the British Government-let-down over paying for an extension, to Kai Tak airport. de aanhaat laje Hun 1954 a
Bo. 9. (465)
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They
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Lave modified draft behind (45) & referes it
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to Treasury.
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69
18.969.
AK
8.9
69
RECEIVED IN
REGISTRY No. 51. - 8 SEP 1969
HICK 10/5
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