TNAG-0533-FCO40-628-Personal-correspondence-between-Sir-Murray-MacLehose--Govern-1975 — Page 16

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somewhat doubtful about this which was, after all, the proposal put to OPD as the basis for a negotiation between officials. I do not myself imagine that the Chancellor, who successfully opposed this idea at OPD, will readily concede that Mr Rodgers should be given this flexibility. However, Mr Rodgers is now on leave and he cannot pursue this matter at least until his return in mid-August. If, however, he were successful and you saw merit in the idea, we could probably arrange for officials to come out first with Mr Rodgers coming out towards the end to settle the crucial issue of cost sharing. All this explains his unwillingness for you at this stage to tell UMELCO of the proposition that he should lead the British negotiating team. Nonetheless, if you could volunteer some views on the advantages/disadvantages of informing UMELCO about Ministerial views on cost sharing before the Ministerial visit, and of a negotiation at official level as a prelude to it, these would be helpful here.

5. I would not like to leave you with the impression that there is no margin for negotiation. The difficulty, as we see it, is that there will be a temptation here to resolve any impasse not by graduation but by further cuts in the garrison below that recommended by the Chiefs of Staff. This would, in our view, have very serious implications for confidence in the Colony and our first aim is to head off anything which might be seen to derogate from the British commitment, as represented by the minimum garrison recommended by the Chiefs of Staff. We shall be making this point as forcibly as possible in our briefing for Mr Rodgers.

6. I should say that Dwin Bramall has been put generally in the picture in the course of his discussions in the MOD this week and, of course, knows of the proposed Ministerial visit. ile is obviously well placed to fill in the background for you from the MOD point of view.

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7. Finally, there is another knotty problem in that the Army Personnel side want to go out to liong Kong soon to give some indication to, eg the Artillery Battery, of their future. is obviously a risk that this would leak before UMELCO learned of Minisers' views on the size of the garrison. The MOD on the civil side and ourselves are agreed that we should go slow on this for the time being but it is undoubtedly one of the matters that Dwin Bramall will wish to discuss with you.

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