SECRET UK EYES A
viable. In extremis, however, it would of course be open to the Government to deploy the full range of military assets in response.
7.
We will be in an even weaker position to counter any Chinese
military action after 1991 when, on present plans, the first of the
resident Gurkha battalions is due to be withdrawn. Thereafter the
Royal Hong Kong Police will start to take on responsibility for
border patrol duties. In the event of a Chinese attack, those RHKP
units on the border (which would probably be rather more lightly
armed than th PAP) might become involved in the initial exchange.
But such use of the RHKP forms no part of CBF Hong Kong's current
contingency plans
Political Response
8. In considering what non-military action could be taken, a lot
would depend on the circumstances of Chinese military intervention
eg. what the pretext was for the Chinese incursion, whether the take
over was largely bloodless, whether non-Chinese were allowed to
leave if they wished etc. The following are some of the possible
measures which would be open to us:
a) Enlist military support from our allies
If, faced with a large-scale Chinese incursion, our first step
would be to consult our Allies, and particularly the US which
has major military bases in the region, to establish what
military assistance they might be able to offer. Hong Kong
contains a fairly substantial American community (about 20,000
US residents) and significant US investment. It might be
possible to persuade the Americans to deploy the seventh fleet
in the region in order to put pressure on the Chinese to
withdraw. The Australians (10,000 residents) could also be
asked to contribute.
b) Economic Sanctions
We could mobilise our friends and partners in the international
community, including those with substantial economic interests
in Hong Kong (eg. Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia
and our EC partners) to take a range of political and economic
SECRET UK EYES A
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