HUNDREDS of troops are preparing to leave Hong Kong to bolster Belize's defences.
An advance party from the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Simoor Rifles) has left its Cassino Lines barracks to begin the ''emergency tour'' so-called because it has been arranged at short notice.
They are the first battalion to be posted to Belize from the Hong Kong Garrison.
Britain has maintained a garrison in Belize since the 1970s at the request of the authorities of the country which lies south of Mexico and next to Guatemala.
The Hong Kong Government will not have to make its usual 65 per cent contribution to the costs of the battalion for its six months in Belize.
No one was prepared last night to put a figure on the amount to be saved, but one source said it would account for only a tiny part of Hong Kong's $1.71 billion defence bill, which represents 1.3 per cent of government expenditure.