SECRET UK EYES A
Garrison has no formal remit to defend Hong Kong against Chinese military action on the grounds that there is no realistic option. for doing so. Since the Royal Hong Kong Police assumed exclusive responsibility for countering illegal immigration on the Sino- Hong Kong border in October 1992, the land element of the Garrison, currently based around three infantry battalions (two of which are Gurkha), has no major day to day operational task, although it does provide support to the Anti Smuggling Task Force. The naval element of the Garrison is busy patrolling Hong Kong waters but almost all of its tasking is in support of the Hong Kong civil authorities, mostly on anti-smuggling operations. The RAF element is an Army Co-operation squadron of Wessex helicopters and their activity is tied to that of the other two Services in Hong Kong.
4. Ultimately, leaving aside its symbolic value in demonstrating UK sovereignty, the garrison provides recourse
recourse to a reliable British (as opposed to Hong Kong government) controlled internal security capability for use in the last resort, if necessary with reinforcement, in the event of a major breakdown in law and order, possibly coupled with a sudden decline in the reliability and effectiveness of the police. It is primarily this requirement that will drive its overall size.
Options for the size of the garrison
5. It would be possible to dispense with maintaining a capacity to support the police in the IS role and leave the garrison purely as a symbolic one. It is difficult to assess how large such a residual presence would be, but clearly it would be much smaller than now, probably amounting to little more than a small headquarters and a single infantry battalion group. Some elements might be retained because they are of particular value to the Hong Kong government, such as the RN patrol craft. The advantage of this approach would be that it would achieve what appears to be the current Hong Kong aim of cutting defence costs as fast as
SECRET UK EYES A
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