TNAG-0481-FCO40-546-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-Lord-Mountbatten-s-visit-t-1974 — Page 5

but from Naturnalist

E.R.

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RECORD OF MEETING AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONG KONG

ON SUNDAY, ZIST FEBRUARY 1965

At my meeting with His Excelle ncy the Governor, the

Commander British Forces Hong Kong and the Colonial

Secretary on Sunday, 21st February 1965, at which Sir Solly

Zuckerman was present, I outlined the scope of the

Government's world wide review of British Defence

expenditure and invited the Governor to give me his views

on the need for the current force levels in Hong Kong.

The Governor said that China had economic incentives

to leave the status quo in Hong Kong undisturbed. He

considered that this situation could continue for the

next two to three years, perhaps longer, but there was no

guarantee. It was nighly improbable that it would continue

for the duration of the lease; the local communist view

was that the present situation would not survive longer than

10 years.

China's attitude could change quickly for

reasons not necessarily directly related to the Colony;

Sino-Soviet relations, the Sino-Indian dispute or the

situation in Vietnam could change the balance of the

factors on which China's policy towards Hong Kong was based.

The Governor said that there was a continuous threat

mote anks

activities to Hong Kong's internal security which stemmed from China's

uum-politics papacity to stir up subversion and disorder, The slightest

Cauces

as well

untoward occurrence was a cause for concern because a

situation could get out of hand so quickly. He considered

it vital to avoid the risk of the expensive and dangerous implications associated with attempting to restoring a

situation. His policy was, therefore, one of prevention

rather than restoration. This could not be done by

police alone; the commitments of the Chinese police force

were growing and at a time of full employment, it was

difficult to recruit for the police and out of the question

to consider raising any other form of supplementary local

forces.

He, therefore, relied on the British Garrison and his

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