TNAG-2240-FCO40-3219-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Royal-Navy-presence-1991 — Page 49

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letter to them to avoid any doubt).

Military to military contacts with the Chinese: CDS made the point that MOD at present had very little contact with the PLA. He was increasingly concerned that the transition was looming and that the two military establishments were not in touch with each other about practical aspects of the handover. He suggested (and the Governor agreed) that it would be right to start by securing political clearance for senior level military to military contact in London and

Peking, which would then filter down to working level in

Hong Kong.

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Gurkhas: CGS said that the Defence Secretary had asked (as

part of a wider exercise to cut the MOD budget below the Options for Change baseline) whether the run-down of the Brigade of Gurkhas could be accelerated. The Governor said

that he knew that this was causing concern to CBF. CGS

added that he had told the Defence Secretary he did not

believe that this would be workable, but accepted that it

had to be looked at.

Withdrawal of the Garrison: there was agreement that it made sense as proposed in the latest version of the

Withdrawal Plan

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to maintain some flexibility about the

rate of draw-down of the remaining three battalions after

1995. The MOD said that they were considering moving to

roulement (ie unaccompanied short tours) for the last year

or so: this would not add significantly to costs).

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Passports for Locally-Engaged Personnel and Locally-Engaged Civilians: the MOD are concerned that their locally-engaged staff have not done well in the allocation system. CGS and others made the point that the military would need to keep a number of LEP/LEC right up to the final withdrawal of the Garrison. If they could not, additional

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