SECRET 高度機密
ANNEX C TQ XCS(75)6
HONG KONG DEFENCE COSTS
HEADS OF AGREEMENT
Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and the Hong Kong Government have concluded an agreement relating to the composition and cost of the British Forces stationed in Hong Kong to replace the existing agreement which expires on 31 March 1976. The United Kingdom Government has offered an agreement of five years: it is the view of the Hong Kong Government that it should last for at least seven years.
2.
The agreement is based on a garrison of four infantry battalions (one British and three Gurkha), a Gurkha engineer field squadron with its training wing, five naval patrol craft and eight Wessex helicopters. The cost of this force at current prices is estimated at 142 m (HK$450 m) a year. Subject to the arrangements in paragraph 4 below, the Hong Kong Government agrees to contribute 50% of the cost of this garrison in the financial year 1976/77, 62% in 1977/78, and 75% in each succeeding year, the balance being met by the United Kingdom Government.
G.F. 316
3.
The detailed provisions of the agreement will be embodied in a Memorandum of Understanding which will include a formula under which costs will be adjusted in the light of changing price and currency exchange rates during the period of the agreement. There will also be a review clause covering, among other things, material changes in the size and costs of the garrison. Further work which remains to be done in the preparation of the Memorandum of Understanding and related documents is set out in the attached Annex.
4.
The United Kingdom Government acknowledges the substantial increase in the financial contribution to be made by the Hong Kong Government, and recognizes the importance attached by that Government to a further release for civil use of land held by the British Forces. Accordingly, the United Kingdom Government has undertaken to release land at present occupied by the RAF at Kai Tak and by the Army at Victoria Barracks. Subject to the re-provisioning by the Hong Kong Government of essential facilities at agreed sites, the land at Kai Tak will be rel-sed during the financial year 1977/78, and the land at Victoria Barracks during the financial year 1978/79. The implementation of these arrange- ments (including the precise extent of the land to be released) will be determined in the light of a study by a joint working party which wil report by 28 November 1975.
SECRET 高度機密
15.
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