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CONFIDENTIAL
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MEETING WITH HEADS OF ASEAN MISSIONS IN LONDON AT THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE: WEDNESDAY 11 JULY AT 3.00 PM.
Present
In the Chair:
Mr H A H Cortazzi
Deputy Under-Secretary of State
Mr C LG Mallaby
Head of Eastern European & Soviet Department
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Mr D S Broucher
Eastern European & Soviet Department
Mr R A Longmire
South East Asian Department
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HE Mr Saleh Basarah
Ambassador of Indonesia
Mr A Kobir Sasradipoera
HE Mr Jek Yeun Thong
High Commissioner for Singapore
Mr Lim Chin Leong
HE Mr Phan Wanname thee
Ambassador of Thailand
HE The Hon J M Stilianopoulos
Ambassador of the Philippines
Mr J A Syjuco
Dr J S Bautista
Mr Looi Cheok Hun
Deputy High Commissioner for Malaysia
SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY
1. Mr Mallaby, stressing that his remarks would reflect his personal views rather than any official assessment, said that it was something of a paradox that, 62 years after the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviet Union was undoubtedly a military and political super-power, expecting to be consulted on all international issues wherever they might arise, but economically was by no means in the super-power class. Her standard of living, relative to the developed world, was not very high.
2.
As regards the objectives of Soviet Foreign Policy, Mr Mallaby drew attention to the importance of the crisis of 1962 when Khrushchev had sent rockets to be installed in Cuba in an endeavour to swing the balance of power against the USA. He had had to back down under threat of American retaliation and this had probably contributed to his down- fall two years later. The USSR had now immensely increased its military potential but it wanted to avoid confrontations where it might again have to "chicken out".
13.
CONETDENTTAI