CONFIDENTIAL
M. Langheut.
Hong
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foser.
Keng Ochan Jeht. than in para 4C.
THE USE OF AID IN SUPPORT OF POLITICAL OBJECTIVES
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1. The basic aims of our foreign policy are to maintain
and improve our national security and prosperity; these
two are inter-locked and depend in turn upon the maintenance
of international stability. In the Third World we are
concerned both to protect our investments and trade, to
secure a reliable supply of strategic materials, and
soften the antagonisms which might arise from the widening
economic gap between the rich and poor nations, which would
provide an opportunity for communist penetration. We, of
course, also have a special continuing responsibility for
the administration of our dependent territories. These
aims can be served by an aid programme, based on enlightened
self-interest, and commensurate in size and quality with
Britain's place in the world. Such a programme can support
our overall relationships with individual countries, both
developing and developed, and enable our representatives to
speak with authority in international fora. This latter
point will be of particular importance after our entry into
the European Communities.
2. If "political objectives" are defined in the general
terms used in the preceding paragraph there is clearly no
/significant
CONFIDENTIAL