CONFIDENTIAL
become available the British Council could most
profitably operate there. Doubts about the
future role of the United States in the region
are leading the Filipinos to look for new
contacts and for ways of strengthening older but
more remote contacts elsewhere. The more we
can demonstrate our capacity to continue to play
a constructive part in the region the greater
will be our chance of exploiting these
developments to our own economic advantage as
well as more generally to the political advantage
of the West.
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CONFIDENTIAL