Registry No.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

Top Secret,

Secret.

Confidential

CONFIDENTIAL

DRAFT

SUBMISSION

Type 1 +

To:-

Mr Moberly

Private Secretary

DSR 11

**

From

CLG Mallaby

Telephone No. Ext.

Restricted.

Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

CCA

PS/PUS

In Confidence

Sir A Parsons

KGD

1 & CD

SAMD

A

Department

CTB: NATIONAL SEISMIC STATIONS (NSS) ON UK DEPENDENT

TERRITORIES

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. Guatemala

would be likely to object sharply, and 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.

From the point of view of the islands themselves, the installation of an NSS could carry a welcome implication of

Soviet recognition of British sovereignty. Thus the

B Governor sees no reason why the Falklands should not be a

{

potential site: But Argentina could be expected to object strongly be an N8b 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.

CONFIDENTIAL

14.

In

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