TNAG-2122-FCO40-3028-Future-of-the-Brigade-of-Gurkhas-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 55

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implications for Hong Kong, if it meant disbanding the

Gurkha Battalions there. Such a decision would be a

reversal of previous Ministerial commitments, and would have a very damaging effect on morale. There could be serious practical and financial implications if the Gurkhas were

disbanded.

He has subsequently set out his concerns in Hong

Kong telno 2134.

A

The relevant extracts from the record of the Governor's

meeting with the Prime Minister (which was copied to the

4.

B Ministry of Defence) is attached.

5.

We understand that the MOD realise that, in view of the

public commitment which Ministers have already made to the

Gurkhas, and given the strong support for the future of the

Gurkhas expressed by the House of Commons Defence Committee, it would be politically impossible to bring this commitment

into doubt now. However, it would still be worth nailing

the MOD down firmly, on the basis of the clear statement

which the Prime Minister has made to the Governor.

6. We need also to consider whether we should be putting

down a marker about the need, in terms of our relations with

Nepal, to retain a Gurkha Brigade at all after 1997. The

latest statement on the issue from the Ministry of Defence

is in the SDE 90, which refers to the announcement in May

1989 by the then Defence Secretary, that after 1997 we would

expect to retain a reduced Brigade of about 4,000 men.

However both the May 1989 statement and the SDE 90 are

careful to avoid making any definitive statement. The MOD

would certainly not give us a commitment about the long term future of the Brigade, but it would be as well to put down a

marker about this as well as about the Hong Kong point, lest

by our silence we should give MOD the impression that we do

CC7ABR/2

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