D
B
C
A
LAST PAPER
Mr P H Moberly
CONFIDENTIAL
HKG.083/1
Private Secretary n mit 2317
PA
22
N Clarke A231+
8 2074
CTB: NATIONAL SEISMIC STATIONS (NSS) ON UK DEPENDENT
TERRITORIES
See
W/20
1. The Secretary of State has asked about the sensitivity of Belize and the Falkland Islands as sites proposed by the Russians for NSS (Private Secretary's minute of 11 April).
Belize
2. The UK's declared intention is to bring Belize to independence as soon as possible. But as long as Guatemala maintains its territorial claim, there can be no prospect of independence. The installation of an NSS would imply that the UK intended to remain for a considerable time. Although the Guatemalans are content with the present situation, they may nevertheless feel obliged to object to any action which implied the indefinite continuation of a British presence in Belize; there might also be wider Latin American criticism of our continued presence on the Latin American mainland.
Falkland Islands
3.
Argentina claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. The installation of an NSS could carry a welcome implication of Soviet recognition of British sovereignty. The Governor sees no practical reason why the Falklands should not be a potential site, but agrees that Argentina could be expected to object strongly to an NSS in the Falklands, or indeed in South Georgia (a dependency of the Falklands). As Anglo- Argentine relations have recently improved, it would be preferable to avoid causing any setback.
US Views
4. In recent weeks
US officials have mentioned to us that NSS could be useful in the Southern Hemisphere, including the Falkland Islands. Although the official purpose of NSS would be to monitor British compliance with the Treaty, and in the Southern Hemisphere they would not be useful in this regard, the Americans argue that NSS would be a useful supplement to the existing capability of the US Atomic Energy Detection System (described in a paper submitted on 25 January) for monitoring important NNWS like Argentina or South Africa. Our own technical experts believe that this view may exaggerate the detection capability of NSS at those locations in the Southern Hemisphere which are available to the UK. We have therefore asked the Americans to let us have a more detailed technical assessment of the potential value of NSS in the Southern Hemisphere.
Conclusions
5.
In suggesting 10 sites for a United Kingdom network, the
/Russians
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