DEFENCE WHITE PAPER
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The Committee had before then a nemorandum by the Secretary of State for Defence (OPD(67) 50) to which was attached the draft of a White Paper
on Defence Policy for publication before the Summer Recess.
THE DEFENCE SECRETARY said that in the light of the Committee's dis- cussion on the previous item of their agenda, he would wish to propose a number of amendments to the draft to reflect the conclusions which had been
reached on the extent to which we should declare our intention to withdraw
from the mainland of South East Asia in the mid-1970s,
stability had been found.
once a now basis for
In discussion a number of amendments were agreed and the following
nain points were nade
(a) Paragraph 8. An addition should be made to reiterate the Goverment'. S
determination to ensure that the cost in foreign exchange of our forces in
Germany was fully net by offset arrangements or in other ways.
(b) Paragraph 10.
Consideration should be given to laying greater emphasis
on the extent to which our influence in the world depended on our economic
strength.
WAS
(c) Paragraph 11. It was argued that we should not commit ourselves to providing outside Europe sophisticated forces which our allies could not
afford: this implied that we were content to bear the costlier share of
defence arrangements outside Europe where we co-operated with our allies and
it did not accord with our interests to do so. It was, however, pointed out
that it would be unacceptable that our forces should be committed unless
sophisticated equipment comparable with that of their potential opponents
were available to them. Such equipment could neither be afforded nor
operated by our allies in Malaysia or Singapore. Furthermore, it was to
our advantage to provide primarily sea and air forces, rather than troops,
since the latter involved a greater degree of commitment and in particular the possibility of involvement in situations from which it would be difficult
to withdraw, such as engagement in counter insurgency operations. The
sentence in question right, nevertheless, be revised to avoid its present
somewhat patronising implication.
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