TNAG-0536-FCO40-631-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 42

SECRET

UK EYES A

DRAFT OPD PAPER: REVISED OUTLINE OF CONCLUDING SECTION

1.

of

The contribution offered by the UK (£10m

£40m) and the Hong Kong maximum contribution (£17m)

falls short of the reduced garrison cost (£40m) by

£13m.

2. Since the UK Government has undertaken to keep

forces in Hong Kong, this gap must be bridged.

3. The obvious way to do this is to reduce the

garrison cost further as this will reduce the gap to be

bridged by the UK or Hong Kong or both.

4.

Therefore:

Question 1 Do Ministers agree that a study should

be carried out with Hong Kong of the implications

of a garrison costing about £35m?

Even if this reduction can be achieved, there will

still be a gap of £8m.

5€

6.

Therefore:

Question 2 Do Ministers regard £10m as being an

upper limit for the UK contribution?

If the answer to this question is yes then:

Question 3 Do Ministers agree that Hong Kong

must be pressed to pay the difference (£17m plus

£8m =

£25m)?

If the answer is no then:

Question 4 Is the gap to be bridged from both

ends?

7. If so, there are two ways of achieving this:

(a) To increase both the UK and Hong Kong

contributions proportionately eg to one-third and

two-thirds of the cost (£12m and £23m respectively).

SECRET IIK EYES A

/(b)