TNAG-1461-FCO40-1987-Future-of-the-Dependent-Territories-Hong-Kong--Gibraltar-and-1986 — Page 94

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(£50,000 in aid in 1985/86). The territory is very small, the population minute and independence is not a genuine possibility. The territory is also so isolated that a federal/association

arrangement scarcely seems feasible either. Fortunately,

Pitcairn seems unlikely to be a liability: its very isolation and

lack of facilities (eg no good harbour) seem unlikely to make it a target of Soviet interest or a worthwhile object of subversion.

Conversely, Pitcairn could have some future scientific value.

Our presence there gives us a guaranteed territorial locus in

certain influential regional bodies. It could be argued that

hanging on to Pitcairn makes it more difficult to shed financial

(ODA) liabilities in the Pacific. This is not however

convincing: decisions on ODA allocations to independent Pacific

territories will, if necessary, be taken irrespective of the

status of Pitcairn.

18 In St Helena (and dependencies) the defence facilities are

valuable and likely to remain so particularly while the

confrontation with the Argentinians over the Falklands continues.

Any move away from dependent status would send the wrong signals

to the Argentinians as would any attempt to treat the islands in

the St Helena/St Helena Dependencies groups as separate entities (despite the distances between them). For the time being it will

therefore be necessary to maintain the dependent status of the

islands. After the Falklands dispute has been resolved some move away from dependent status may be possible politically. However given the very weak state of the islands' economy it is this,

rather than their political/constitutional position, that will

require the main attention for the foreseeable future.

to be found to place the economy on a firmer footing almost

certainly involving an increased aid allocation - it remains to

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Ways need

be seen whether the increase currently written into the aid framework (peaking in 1988/89 at £17 m) will prove adequate. Full independence even in the long term does not seem feasible

and other formulae need to be looked at. These might include

integration of the group with the UK

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the granting of UK citizenship (short of complete integration) to all the inhabitants of the group

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