CONFIDENTIAL
accomplished by two battalions in succession, each of which will complete one emergency unaccompanied tour of up to four and a half months."
b.
Paragraph 5. Delete "400" and insert "700". Delete "police tactical units" throughout, and insert "Police Tactical Unit companies".
C.
Paragraph 7. Delete "1st battalion" and insert "1st
Battalion".
d. Paragraph 15. Delete the second sentence and insert the reworded sentence: "The primary risk to the security of Hong Kong would be a rapid breakdown in law and order: the resolution of which could be beyond the capability of the RHKP.
e.
Paragraph 15a. Delete the sub-paragraph, which conveys an incorrect indication of the size of the one battalion Garrison, and insert: "Agree that the land element of the Hong Kong Garrison should be reduced by September 1994 to a core of one battalion, supported by the necessary support services in accordance with the broad timetable at paragraph 7 above".
f. Paragraph 15c. I am not certain that sub-paragraphs 15c(1) and (2) are necessary: this work is in any case being carried out through further reviews of aspects of the Garrison and it is inappropriate to single them out in the recommendations for OPD (K). Also, by omission of mention of the RN at this point, it might be inferred that only the Army and RAF will be subject to further reviews of force levels. I propose that 15c(1) and (2) be deleted and 15c (3) should become sub-paragraph 15c.
4. Finally, I am
concerned by the presentation of
of specific manpower figures for Hong Kong units in the illustrative force levels at Annex B to the paper. I believe that this level of detail is unnecessary in the OPD (K) paper, and that the statement of these force levels should be the result of the ongoing staff work on the Outline Withdrawal Plan and associated studies, rather than on inevitably (at this stage) fairly coarse-grained assessed projections. Apart from their possible inaccuracy, to declare these figures in such detail at this stage could seriously limit our future options for the rundown,
the rundown, shape and size of units
units and supporting arms and Services. Ideally, no figures for projected force levels should be included in the OPD (K) paper. However, I could accept that an overall projected total manpower figure for the Garrison of "Up to a maximum of 3,500" might be included in order to provide a very approximate indication of the extent to which the one battalion Garrison does represent a significant reduction of the Garrison's current strength.
B
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