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Apr 93. The paper was handed to the Governor of Hong Kong on 15 pr 93, with the recommendation that its conclusions should be accepted. Subject to receipt of the formal agreement of Governor, the paper
will provide the policy basis for the planning of the rundown of the Hong Kong Garrison. On 14 Apr 93 SofS also agreed that the 1993 Review should be staffed to its planned conclusion, in order to provide the COS and Ministers with a sound basis for future re-appraisals and decisions on the rundown of the Hong Kong Garrison. The proviso should be noted that the Garrison force levels will continue to be reviewed from Jul 93, and further reductions made where appropriate, in the light of the prevailing political situation. The several references to this ongoing process and to the possibility of reductions in the Hong Kong Garrison earlier than currently planned will be noted in certain of the new text of the two-star draft.
4. Staffing of the desk-level and one-star drafts was completed successfully on schedule, and we are most grateful for the comments and proposed amendments received. All of these have been taken into account and incorporated (in some cases with further textual modification) or discussed separately with the originators to achieve appropriate compromise solutions. New and amended text consequent upon the one-star staffing is shown in bold text in the two-star draft. The changes are relatively few, and are concerned primarily with command and control and with logistic matters: including the disposal of equipment on final withdrawal. The probable
The probable content
content of the Hong
the Hong Kong Garrison Withdrawal Plan has been further refined and amplified in the light of comment received on the one-star draft.
5. The two-star draft also includes some of the financial input that was unavailable for the desk and one-star draft circulations. This financial information is being further refined by Civ Sec HQBF HK and GF (Pol)1, following endorsement of Reference E above, and the broad financial overview included in the two-star draft necessarily lacks the detail that will eventually be achieved. It will not be available in final form before 13 May 93: almost а week after we require two-star responses to the enclosed draft, and one week before the HODS draft is circulated. However, it was decided that it would be inappropriate to delay circulation of the two-star draft simply in order to include this information its final form, as this would have involved significant disruption to the overall staffing timetable for the 1993 Review, and could well have resulted in not achieving the Review's submission to the cos in Jul 93. The full and refined version of the financial information will be included in the HODS draft of the 1993 Review.
6. The current difficulties over the Defence Costs Agreement (DCA) issue (the outstanding payment by the HKG of £16M from FY 92/93 and a possible underpayment of about £7M in FY 93/94) have not yet been resolved; GF (Pol)1 advise that they are unlikely to be so before the end of 1993 at the earliest. However, ongoing
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