TNAG-0476-FCO40-541-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 165

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POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE CURTAILMENT OF

BRITISH DEFENCE COMMITMENTS OUTSIDE NATO

I.

INTRODUCTION

1. The object of the present paper is not primarily to set out the arguments for and against the curtailment or abandonment of Britain's non-NATO defence commitments, but rather to attempt to assess the political consequences which might flow from the abandonment of each particular commitment, and to suggest ways in which these possible consequences which might be damaging to British interests might be averted or mitigated. The decision about which commitments are to be cut or reduced will of course be for Ministers to take, probably in July. It is hoped that this paper may be of value in suggesting what line should be taken in the meantime by government spokesmen and by HM Representatives overseas; how and when consultations might best take place with other countries concerned; and what considerations should govern the presentation of the decisions when they are taken, and the timing of their implementation.

EXISTING COMMITMENTS

II.

2. In the following paragraphs the existing commitments, and the forces (if any) deployed to meet them, are briefly listed, together with the functional costs ascribed to them in the Ministry of Defence paper DSWP(P)25. In stating the costs, it is necessary to recall the caveat contained in paragraph 3 of that paper, namely that they are "total functional costs, not net marginal costs. That is to say that they represent the costs that can be attributed to given activities rather than the costs that can be saved by their elimination".

3. The Far East, South East Asia, and the Indian Ocean

A) Hong Kong The United Kingdom stations a substantial force in Hong Kong for the purposes of maintaining internal security and providing some deterrent to ill-considered Chinese action against the Colony.

Functional Cost:

(or which

1973/74

£37m

Annual Average 1978/9-1983/4

£42m

Hos Kory pays about ₤8 m

hey yea

بعد

paragraph 12 below)

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/B)

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