TNAG-0280-FCO40-316-Visit-of-Parliamentary-under-Secretary-of-Foreign-and-Common-1970 — Page 39

2 October, 1970.

Your proposals for Hong Kong's defence contribution after April, 1971, as set out in your letter of 7 July, have now been discussed with the Ministry of Defence, the Treasury and the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

2.

Although the extent of our Far Eastern presence has not yet been finally decided we think that it is sensible to discuss your proposals on the assumption of an Army Garrison comprising 63 major units. This follows from a recent assessment made by the Commander, British Forces, Hong Kong, in consultation with you, that provided -

(a)

(b)

the situation on the border remains reasonably stable;

the internal threat in Hong Kong does not significantly increase;

and

(0) the strength of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force

continues to expand;

the reinforcement time for an extra major unit could be extended from 72 hours to seven days. This removes the requirement for an extra unit to be stationed in the Colony as had previously been intended. The remainder of the Garrison has been assumed to be as shown in Annex A to my letter of 9 October, 1969, except that the RAF Whirlwinds were increased in number from six to ten earlier this year. The annex to this letter shows the revised running costs (excluding works) of the Garrison in 1971/72 and replaces the information that we gave you in 1969. The main reasons for the increase in costs in spite of the reduction in the number of Army units are first, the increased cost of the new Service pay structure introduced last April and second, the fact that it has recently been found possible to bring the Army units in the Colony up to strength - a development which was not allowed for last year.

3. There are two points in relation to your proposals on which we should be grateful for clarification.

(a)

Capital Works

You have suggested earmarking a maximum of £2 million p.a. for non-recurrent capital works which would remain the property of the Hong Kong Government and would be selected from works which are agreed by them to be of

His Excellency

Sir David Trench, GCHG, MC,

Government House,

HONG KONG.

SECRET

/potential