TNAG-0279-FCO40-315-Visit-of-Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-Aff-1970 — Page 37

SECRET

I have been told about the political difficulties you

face on this issue and fully see that you may need to deploy arguments locally that may be quite different from those that we shall need to use to obtain interdepartmental agree-

ment on a revised level of contribution. Clearly you must

take account of the political realities of the situation in

Hong Kong.

I know about the exchanges now proceeding at official

level with a view to agreeing a figure for the new rate of

contribution. I hope that agreement can be reached;

that

the figure proves acceptable to your Councils and can then be put forward as an "offer" by the Hong Kong Government. If we can achieve a solution along these lines it should

help to smooth the political difficulties.

IM

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SECRET