TNAG-0254-FCO40-290-Contributions-of-Hong-Kong-for-costs-of-maintaining-military-1971 — Page 44

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the existing contribution and which you regarded as reasonable

although you pointed out that the Hong Kong Government would have

no control over increases in costs. An alternative which we should

be very willing to look at would be a proposal by which the

contribution increased by a predetermined amount each year. We

would welcome your views on this.

5.

Finally, our major difficulty is over the starting amount of the

I am sure you appreciate that in the context of

contribution.

the public expenditure discussions here, and the particular problems

of the cost of Defence, Ministers will want to be satisfied that the

amount offered is as much as it is reasonable to expect. In the

light of these considerations and of the relative prosperity of

Hong Kong we are under considerable pressure here to ask you to

increase your offer of £8 million to bring it closer to the cost of

that element in the total bill which could reasonably be regarded

as related to internal security measures. At the same time, we

realise that in the event the amount of the contribution must

largely be determined by what your unofficial advisers will accept

as a charge on Hong Kong funds. We should be grateful therefore for

an assurance that you are reasonably certain in your own mind that

£8 million is the absolute maximum for which you can see any hope

of acceptance. If this is in fact the case, then we will at least

hope that you can agree to the proposals in paragraph 4 above.

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