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DEFENCE REVIEW: HONG KONG (Mr Stuart's submission on 5 December)
1.
I agree with the draft, subject to one amendment pencilled in at paragraph 11. i believe it to be true that the Governor's
position is that while he would not wish to negotiate until his Luet is out of the way he would reckon it necessary and useful to consult ACO informally much sooner than that.
2. I very much agree with the thought in paragraph 6 that all possible alternatives for the level of a military presence in Hong Kong have not been radically considered. For example, given the size of the territory, could not the ossentials be preserved if we ad a naval presence with fast patrol boats (smuggling and illegal immigrants); some helicopters (observation and a visible presence); perhaps a couple of highly mobile battalions for internal security duties; together with reinforcement of the police. I would not suggest putting any such
guess at a force level in writing to the Governor, still less within Whitehall. But were Hong Kong to make such a bid it would amoke out MOD, causing them to focus on re-deployment/redundancy
excess units.
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