TNAG-0852-FCO40-1062-Visits-of-Royal-Navy-ships-to-Hong-Kong-and-China-1979 — Page 32

From:

M HAWORTH

Defence Secretariat Division 5

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Main Building Whitehall London SW1A 2HB

Telephone 01-218

(Direct Dialling)

01-218 9000

(Switchboard)

D W Fall Esq

Defence Department

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

London SW1

Your reference

Our reference

DPG 076/2

DS5/61/276/77

Date

6 August 1979

Dear David,

TG 317.8

1. I attach for your information a copy of the revised programme for the homeward leg of TG 317.8, which C-in-C Fleet has just produced.

2. As I told you on the telephone the plan for a banyan in the Maldives has been dropped and the ships will now sail direct from Colombo and Cochin to their exercises. with the US. The appropriate attachés in New Delhi and Colombo have been told through service channels of the proposed visits and, assuming they foresee no problems, we shall ask them in due course to seek diplomatic clearance. You will note also the proposal, of which the DA in Tel Aviv is aware, for some of the ships

to visit Eilat.

3. Turning to Hong Kong, you sent with your letter of 11 July a copy of a letter from the Government Secretariat registering the point that they might see a need for a visit by part of the task group on its way home. You are well aware of the problems this would cause and I must confess I find it difficult to see what purpose it would serve. The recent reinforcements have amply demonstrated our support for the colony in its present plight, and a warship visit could be no more than a gesture. Nevertheless we note Hong Kong views on this and would look at any request that was made.. Incidentally I find the last sentence of Davies' paragraph 3 rather odd. ships will call at Singapore precisely because it is on the way home; by my crude calculations Hong Kong is some 1500 miles off their route. I hardly think the ships could be said to be "in the area".

The

CONFIDENTIAL

Yours,

Malcolm quer