TNAG-2120-FCO40-3026-Hong-Kong-Garrison-future-of-the-Royal-Navy-presence-1990 — Page 231

Redacted

lunder FOI

exemption

27(1)

JECRET UK EYES A

るこ

R P Hatfield Esq

Head of Secretariac (Overseas)

(Commitments)

Ministry of Defence

London

Dear Richard,

fundon SWIA ZAH

HKC 062/1

1 January 1990

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

J 1990

FRK OFFICER

REGISTRY

INDEX

PA

Acton Taken

FUTURE OF ROYAL NAVY PRESENCE AFLOAT

HOM

Thank you for your letter of 19 September.

I am

sorry not to have replied sooner, but as you will appreciate the issues raised in your letter are complex and need to be seen against a more than usually sensitive political situation in Hong Kong; and against the background of the current state of Sino-British relations.

The Operational Case for a Continued Naval Presence

# your assessment that the military case for retention is a weak one. I am not best qualified to challenge this view, but others who are very well placed to judge, have certainly done so.

The assessment of HQBF Hong Kong is, as I understand it, that an appropriate and credible RN operational capability in Hong Kong is required to uphold territorial integrity and to counter a possible erosion of Hong Kong's sea borders by Chinese vessels. They assess that such incursions now seem more likely and potentially more confrontational than was the case when the garrison outline withdrawal plan was drawn up. It was then assumed that there would be no major deterioration in relations with China and that China would continue a

SIPAGK

SECRET UK EYES A

6