CONFIDENTIAL
Wellington telegram No. 1 Saving to Commonwealth Office
-3-
Bus there is a hopeful aspect to all this:
we in Britain are resolved overseas and of increased
t today's programme of retrenchment taxation at home will give the United Kingdom the economic base from which we can continue to play a proper role in the world of the 1970s and beyond.
I was grateful for the words the Secretary-General used in
So much for the his remarks on that aspect of our position. background. Last week, General Sir Michael Carver outlined to the Military Advisers of SEATO the United Kingdom Government's intentions regarding our Force Declarations to SEATO military
plans.
General Carver explained that we should be able to maintain our present Force Declarations for a further 12 months, but that, as from April 1969, we shall be making major changes in them as the withdrawal of our forces from Singapore and Malaysia gets under way. Nevertheless, it is our intention to continue to make certain Force Declarations of naval, amphibious, and air forces to the principal SEATO Plan as long as we have effective forces remaining in Singapore and Malaysia. The Military Advisers have, I understand, already instructed the Chief Military Planning Office, to take these changes into account in future SEATO planning.
I should like to turn from that to the implication of our
I need hardly say that we withdrawal from the Treaty Area itself. are concerned that when we withdraw we shall not leave behind us an area of instability. As my colleagues will recognize, this would be entirely inconsistent with Britain's record in this field since World War II. I much appreciated the opening words Mr Hasluck used about our record in the past when he made his
It is nautral, of course, comments on the problems we now face,
Mr Hasluck, referring to
that both Malaysian and Singapore should be concerned over their
As Mr Hasluck has indicated, own future defence arrangements. we shall be discussing the possibilities for future co-operation with our Commonwealth partners in the Five-Power Conference which is likely to take place in June. this Five-Power Conference, said it may not be possible to reach final arrangements but at least we would hope to identify the problems and exchange views on the best ways of making further
progress.
So much for the military side of the consequences for Malaysia
The process and Singapore of our withdrawal by the end of 1971.
CONFIDENTIAL /of