From Michnd Mandall, M.P.
22nd July 1962
Earlier this week I returned from a visit to Japan, Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China, which I undertook both as a member of the Select Committee on Defence and as Parliamentary Adviser to British Aerospace and Cable and Wireless. Having declared my interest in defence sales generally, specifically on behalf of British Aerospace and in wider telecommunication opportunities. for Cable and Wireless, I hope that the following comments may be of interest to you in the light of your proposed visit to the Far East in September.
1. Japan.
By way of background, I should mention that the Select Committee had had full discussions in Washington before arriving in Japan where, apart from a real, intense interest in and appreciation of our success in the Falklands, the main thrust of the discussions both with the administration and the Senate Armed Services Committee had been to.enlist our support for increased Japanese defence expenditure.
Within the last few days, Prime Minister Suzuki has made it plain that Japan will exceed its current limit of defence expenditure of 1 per cent of GNP this year and there are obvious opportunities for British defence sales in Japan. The Foreign Minister, the Minister for Justice as well as Members of the Diet with special defence interests, all showed a willingness to consider British plans for the sale of equipment such as the Harrier, Rapier, Blow-pipe, Sea Wolf etc.
However, such sales are inhibited by two factors. First, there is the long-standing Japanese inhibition about "going public" on defence procurement and, second, the virtual monopoly of U.S. defence supplies to Japan at the present time. As against this, Japan is clearly sensitive to its trade imbalance with Europe and its special relationship with the United Kingdom as the principal source for its foreign investment designed to capture a share of the European market. Under these circumstances and given the somewhat strident tone adopted by the U.S. administration and Congress in pressing for increased defence expenditure, I believe that there are reasonable prospects in looking for increased Japanese defence expenditure from the United Kingdom, and in meetings with British Aerospace and the SPAC during the next few days I shall be pressing for a concerted effort to provide the maximum industrial impetus to