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The extra cost of the UK contingent to UNFICYP in 1973/74 amounts to £2.5m (including the logistic support we provide for UNFICYP as a whole) but this is met from FCO funds.
B) Naval Presence East of the Cape of Good Hope The naval presence East of the Cape consists of three ships permanently on station (Hong Kong, Singapore, Beira/Indian Ocean) and additional groups of ships deployed from UK. Each group is deployed for up
to nine months and is usually composed of one cruiser or DLG plus 5 frigates, supporting RFAS and when possible one SSN. This force helps to deter foreign intervention and unrest in dependent territories and provides some capability to'reinforce garrison forces. Together with USN forces, it acts as a counter to the increasing Soviet naval presence in the Indian Ocean.
1973/74 £0.5m
OF COMMITMENTS
Annual Average 1978/9-1983/4
£0.5m
Functional Costs:
III.
A.
POSSIBLE CURTAILMENT
THE FAR EAST, SOUTH EAST ASIA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN
HONG KONG
8. Hong Kong is a British territory and Her Majesty's Government's responsibility for good order and government in the territory cannot be abdicated. Given the existence of China on the other side of the border, full withdrawal of forces is not possible short of a decision to return the colony to China.
9. The present garrison is not designed to repel a determined Chinese attack, against which the colony is indefensible. Its function is to provide, in support of the police, a guarantee of internal security in Hong Kong and to secure the borders against local provocation or trouble from the Chinese side. Its present size was fixed in relation to these tasks and any reduction could be made only as a consequence of acceptance by the Governor, in consultation with the Commander British Forces, that the garrison was now larger than the degree of risk warranted, or of a decision by HMG to run a higher degree of risk, in the event of trouble, than they have hitherto considered acceptable.
10. The three Gurkha battalions comprise nearly half the garrison.
/A decision
7
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