TNAG-0310-FCO40-346-Contributions-of-Hong-Kong-for-costs-of-maintaining-military-1971 — Page 42

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

G

SECRET

have received no reply from him.

Fortunately,

neither the BBC nor Reuters has pursued the matter

and it is unlikely that they will now do sa, In

we the circumstances, I do not think it worthwhile

for the

drop:

pursuing the point further with the Governor,

-particularly since he will be leaving the Colony

on retirement within the next 10 day

"gand

how

For & Frattach A selection of cuttings from Hong Kong

is attachex

newspapers which show the manner in which the issue

was publicly presented and which give some indication

of public reaction. The ost sensible comment

comes from the "Star" newspaper which is normally Hlinea

rting)

wort to indulge in somewhat sensational reporting, 8. The question now arises of whether a report should

be made to the Defence and Overseas Policy Committee

informing them that action on their decision of

23 July has been successfully completed. I do not

think it necessary for any formal memorandum to be

put to the Committee, but both the Treasury and the

Ministry of Defence, at the official level, would

support a proposal that the Foreign & Commonwealth

Secretary should address a personal minute to the

Prime Minister informing him of the successful

outcome to the matter. A draft is attached for this

purpose. It seems unnecessary to mention to the

Prime Minister the slight modification which we

accepted to one of the conditions to be attached to

the contribution as approved by the Defence & Overseas

Policy Committee. The reasons for this modification

were fully explained in my submission of 23 September.

3. SECRET