PS/PUS
R7"/2
Miss Marsden Mr. Stone Illy IS COCHIN/11/2
ра
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Date:
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RA Burns
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HUB 063
063/
For 1091
8 February 1991
PS/Lord Caithness Mr McLaren
Mr Paul, HKD
LMX
(14
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ROYAL NAVAL PRESENCE IN HONG KONG
1. The PUS has agreed to speak to Sir Michael Quinlan in the MOD about the continuing deadlock over the financing of the three Royal Naval Patrol Crafts after 1992.
Lord Caithness is grateful to the PUS for agreeing to take up cudgels on this issue before he himself speaks to
Mr Archie Hamilton (a meeting is scheduled for the afternoon of 12 February). That meeting will, in turn, precede
Lord Caithness's own meeting with the Secretary of State on 13 February (at which I shall be present) to discuss his visit to Hong Kong.
2.
I submit a Speaking Note. The PUS will want to avoid falling for the response that, since we are so keen (for "political" reasons of "public perception"), then we should pay. The fact is that there is a real military need: there were twenty-nine Chinese incursions last year.
3.
The background is well set out in the Department's brief for Lord Caithness's visit to Hong Kong. Attached to that brief is the Governor's letter to Sir M Quinlan of
13 December.
4. Sir M Quinlan has now replied that MOD Ministers are not prepared to agree to the retention of the patrol craft after 1992 without a very substantial contribution from the Hong Kong Government towards the additional costs. We were not consulted about this decision to seek the views of MOD Ministers and the Chiefs of Staff, who will therefore have been unaware of the wider considerations. The latest MOD position is a further retreat from the options they were discussing with HKG last year and reject the considerable flexibility that HKG have been trying to show.
Sir M Quinlan's latest wheeze - that HKG should take over the manning and operation of the patrol craft with Loan Service Personnel will not wash, because it would require Legco approval and fail to preserve the White Ensign in Hong Kong.
5.
The Governor has now expressed profound disappointment. He has also repeated his keen anxieties about the unfortunate coincidence of this issue with the Exco-Legco discussions of
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