AIR MAIL
18
RECEIVED
REGISTRY No.52
11 FEB 1975
інки 19/1
Ref: (27) in NS 76/76/989
Dear Andrew,
SECRET
ECLIPSE
BY BAG
(22
COLONIAL SECRETARIAT. HONG KONG.
5th February 1975
Rah
Wotton
I should
Further to confidential telegram number 127 of 4th February 1975, I now attach a copy of the document referred to in paragraph 3 thereof together with some notes on it by Adrian Cowell.
J
Obviously this proposal must be a non-starter. No international or government body and certainly not the United Nations, the Americans or ourselves - could enter into negotiations to purchase illicitly grown opium directly from insurgent groups in opposition to the Burmese Government at Rangoon with whom there are diplomatic and friendly relations. The only people who might do this are the Burmese Government themselves, but there was no indication in Cowell's talk with me that this is on the cards at the present time.
c.c.
первиз во
According to Cowell, the first Shan opium proposals about pre-emptive buying, referred to in the opening sentence of his notes, were turned down at the highest level in the State Department. The reasons for doing so were apparently along the lines of our own thinking. I gathered from Cowell that the State Department is opposed to this new proposal which seems to me likely to receive similar treatment in the end and for the same reasons.
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It is Cowell's belief that some sort of compromise solution to the insurgency problem in Shan State between the Central Government and the imbroglio of dissident guerilla forces operating there will be worked out in the not too distant future. On the one hand the Central Government needs their help against the Communists, whilst on the other the insurgent groups are in a tightening squeeze between the Burmese Army moving from the west and the Communists slowly advancing from the east. If any moves are made in this direction it remains to be seen what part opium will play in the bargaining.
It is plain that Cowell is here with Lester Wolff's blessing to seek Hong Kong's support for this latest Shan proposal. He does not think the proposal is likely to succeed due to State Department and F.C.0. opposition, but hopes it will not be turned down out of hand. He believes that something worthwhile and acceptable to all may emerge from it.
I will be seeing Chris Train at Geneva for the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs beginning on 17th February 1975. I will take the opportunity to discuss the matter with him in more detail on that occasion.
Mr. A.C. Stuart, C.P.M.,
H.K. & Indian Ocean Dept.,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, LONDON, S.W.1.
C.J. Train, Esq.,
Home Office, London.
J.P. Law, Esq., QPM, CPM, Bangkok.
Head of Chancery,
Rangoon.
Yours ever,
Mor
(N.G. Rolph)
Commissioner for Narcotics
Head of Chancery, Burma.
Head of Chancery, Vientian
•
Rolph