TNAG-0205-FCO40-241-Pensions-policy-1970 — Page 60

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

W(B)L 51-7406

3

SECRET

(b)

(c)

an announcement that we would pick up the Expatriate Pensions

Bill as and when the territory

concerned became independent

would be neither wholly non-

committal nor innocuous, the

latter because we might well be asked about local pensioners, which might be embarrassing.

However we could probably evade a direct answer;expatriates

would certainly be reassured; and if the statement were carefully worded (less explicitly the better), we could probably get

away with it.

But, unless we were willing to

apply the same policy to Hong Kong, an explicit statement that we would begin to pay now (or well in advance of the independence of the territories concerned) the

Expatriate: Pensions Bill of dependent territories would

confront us with the most obvious

dilemma of all. On the face of

it the only innocent grounds

on which Hong Kong could be

excluded would be the healthy state of the Colony's finances.

But other financially strong

dependencies

territories would then have to be

excluded which, we understand,

it might be desired to include

on political grounds.

Page 60Page 61