TNAG-1035-FCO40-1285-Visit-by-John-Nott--Secretary-of-State-for-Defence--to-Hong--1981 — Page 5

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According to Wah Kiu Yat Po, the Commander British Forces, Major General John Chapple, returned to Hong Kong on the same flight as Mr. Nott. Sing Tao Jih Pao reported that the motorcade carrying Mr. Nott away from the airport broke down in the

oss harbour tunnel.

The Oriental Daily News incorporated the report on Mr. Nott's arrival with another contributed by its London correspondent, Mr. Michael Chugani. According to the paper, a Liberal MP, Lord Avebury in the House of Lords, had filed a written question with Parliament asking the Defence Secretary to clarify reports that married Gurkha soldiers in Hong Kong were being "racially discriminated against" by a harsh military rule so that many of their wives were apprehensive of pregnancy. In a sub-headline, the paper wondered what Mr. Nott had to say on this.

Mr. Nott's tour of units of the Royal Navy on September 29 was reported in caption stories by Sing Tao Wan Pao the same afternoon and by two English papers the following day.

Also covering the tour, the Express said on September 30 that Mr. Nott was expected to throw some light on the question of whether the size of the garrison in Hong Kong would be cut. The paper also quoted the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Royal Navy, Mr. Keith Speed, who was currently in Hong Kong on a private visit, as saying that any cut in the size of the British garrison here would be unfair to the territory because local residents were already shouldering 75 per cent of the defence costs.

Mr. Speed added that the present number of British soldiers was just right and that any cut in its size would lead to a shortage of manpower when the five new navy patrol boats were delivered from Britain next year.

Mr. Nott's Press conference on September 30 hit the headlines the next day, with seven papers using it as their lead stories. Many papers emphasised in headlines the Defence Secretary's statement that an additional Gurkha battalion would arrive in Hong Kong during 1983-84, and that although Britain had cut its defence cost earlier, the move would not affect the UK's defence commitment in the territory.

Another aspect highlighted by the Press was Mr. Nott's indication that a successor to Sir Murray MacLehose had not yet been chosen. He was quoted by the papers as stressing that it was only after free competition that the contract to build naval vessels for Hong Kong went to British shipbuilders. On the issue of Gurkha wives having to report a pregnancy within three months, Mr. Nott believed the rule was intended to ensure proper ante-natal check-ups for the soldiers' wives. A few left-wing papers gave prominence to his views that the military strength of the USSR had surpassed that of Western European nations.

In an article published in "Between These Columns" on October 3, the South China Morning Post said Mr. Nott's remark that no one had yet been chosen as the next Hong Kong Governor had given rise to speculation that Sir Murray would be staying on with his term ¡ extended the fifth time. The report was promptly picked up by three Chinese papers.

Quoting a Reuters despatch, four papers reported on October 4 that Mr. Nott had told Hong Kong newsmen that Britain was expected to update its submarine missile system in line with the modernisation programme announced by the US.

Despite earlier reports that the Defence Secretary's visit would last only two days, Mr. Nott did not leave Hong Kong until October 3, and his departure for Kuala Lumpur was covered by four papers in minor reports the following day.