TNAG-0544-FCO40-639-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 15

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REFERENCES

NOTES FOR SUPPLEMENTARIES .

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HONG KONG DEFENCE COSTS NEGOTIATIONS

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The House will recall that in announcing the Government b conclusions on the Defence Review we made it plain that although our main defence emphasis must be on our contribution to NATO, we recognised that we had inescapable commitments to retain forces in the dependent territories, including Hong Kong. But we also said that in Hong Kong we would be making economies in the forces and seeking from the Hong Kong Government a larger share of their cost in the next cost-sharing agreement in 1976. Since then both Governments have had preliminary discussions about the future size of the garrison and the future cost- sharing arrangements, leading up to the recent visit by my right honourable Friend the Minister of State for Defence, who has had intensive negotiations with the Hong Kong Government on both aspects.

2.

My right honourable Friend's visit resulted in two important steps. Firstly, he secured agreement on the future level of the garrison; this will be reduced to four infantry battalions, engineers, five naval patrol craft and a helicopter squadron and resulting in a total annual saving of over £20 million compared to the original garrison. Secondly, the Hong Kong Government accepted that in the future it would have to hear a substantially higher proportion of the total cost than it

has in the past.

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