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3.
Mr Blaker hoped that the world could be brought to condemn
Vietnam. The situation for us in Hong Kong was particularly bad with over 1,000 refugees a day arriving. We had some hope that the Chinese would slow down the rate of migration from China but
this might take several months.
Chinese influence
4. In response to a question from Mr Blaker, Mr Dhanabalan said
that the ASEAN countries, especially Thailand, thought that the
threat of further Chinese "punishment" would hold back the
Vietnamese from invading Thailand. Although they did not say so publicly, the ASEAN countries have accepted China's role as a restraint
on Vietnam. But they had no illusions about the long-term (15-20
year) Chinese ambitions; these were being served by Vietnamese
aggressiveness, causing ASEAN countries to become increasingly
dependent on China. Indonesia and Malaysia were torn between their
fear of Vietnam and their distrust of their own Chinese inhabitants.
The Vietnamese had played on this but Indonesia and Malaysia now
recognised Vietnam as the more immediate threat to their very
survival.
ASEAN
5.
Mr Dhanabalan said he was surprised at the growing solidarity
of ASEAN, which offered South East Asia an alternative economic
structure to that of the communist societies, although Thailand and Indonesia were still basically military governments. To maintain
their lead they would have to work together more closely in economic
and indeed in the political and military coordination. Many
European countries now recognised the importance of encouraging ASEAN
to work as a group and he hoped that there would be a return of
British interest in the region.
Mr Blaker confirmed that the first topic which was raised with him
in his present job was ASEAN and said that he hoped to make a tour
of the ASEAN countries later in the year.
6.
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