(Letter addressed to Heads of Missions)
Mo Stural H KLOD
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
1 November 1974
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1. I am very conscious of the fact that for the last year I have not left my desk to visit the area for which I am responsible. This has been due largely to the fact that money for travelling is relatively scarce and it is always easier to obtain it if one is either travelling to attend a conference or accompanying a minister on a journey. The parliamentary situation has inevitably limited the amount of time which ministers have been able to devote to foreign travel and I see no substantial likelihood of our own Ministers find- ing much time for travel to Asia in the months ahead. There is, however, a chance that Lord Goronwy-Roberts will be able to leave London for about ten days in mid-December and the likeli- hood is that the bulk of this time will be taken up in an orientation visit to Hong Kong which he has not previously visited. If he has a few days over you may like to know that I have suggested Manila as his first priority and Rangoon as his second, with the agreement of the Heads of the Departments concerned.
2. You should also know that the Secretary of State reluctantly decided some months ago that he would not be able to pay a visit to Tokyo for the annual ministerial talks. In taking this decision, however, he informed the Japanese Foreign Minister that he much hoped to accompany The Queen to Tokyo next May and suggested that the autumn talks should be carried out at official level. The consequence is that Tom Brimelow and Bill Bentley will be travelling to Tokyo at the beginning of December. Bill will take the opportunity to visit the other posts for which he is responsible, Ulan Bator, Peking and Seoul. The PUS will also go to Seoul after his visit to Tokyo and Bill Bentley will be there at the same time. course be passing through Hong Kong.
Bill will of
3. It seems very likely that the next stage of the consultative process in relation to Five Power Defence Arrangements and the Defence Review will take place also in December. If, as I expect, the Minister carrying out the consultations is again to be Mr Rodgers of the Ministry of Defence I hope that Peter Male will be a member of his party. I have suggested to Peter
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