DSR 11 (Revised)
DRAFT:
minute/letter/teleletter/despatch/note
FROM:
P S
DEPARTMENT:
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION.
Top Secret
Secret
Confidential
Restricted
TO:
A J Coles Esq
10 Downing Street London SW1
TEL. NO:
TYPE: Draft/Final 1+
Reference
Your Reference
Copies to:
¡
Unclassified
PRIVACY MARKING
CAVEAT
.In Confidence
NR
Enclosures-flag(s)...........
A
SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO THE FAR EAST:
SEPTEMBER
You asked for advice on which routes the Prime Minister aircraft might take on her visit to the Far East in Septembe: We have assumed from your letter to Francis Richards of
21 January that the Prime Minister wishes to make the flight: to and from the Far East as quickly as possible.
JOUTWARD
The shortest route to Tokyo, the first point on the Prime Minister's tour, is via Moscow. A transit stop there could permit a meeting with a Soviet Leader, similar to the one the Prime Minister had with Mr Kosygin en route to Tokyo in June 1979. However, Anglo-Soviet relations have deter- iorated since then and the timing might not be right for such a meeting. Furthermore both H M Ambassador in Peking and the Governor of Hong Kong have drawn attention to the likely adverse Chinese reaction to stopping over in Moscow.
An
alternative route is via Elmendorf in Alaska where a refuel- ling stop of one to one-and-a-half hours would have to be made. Journey time is estimated at 18 1/2 hours compared with about 14 hours via Moscow.
RETURN
It
The quickest route to London from Hong Kong, the last point on the tour, would be via New Delhi and Bahrain. has been suggested that a stop-over in Delhi might enable the Prime Minister to meet Mrs Gandhi, but:
(a) the programme for the last day in Hong Kong will
not permit the Prime Minister's aircraft to reach Delhi until after midnigh on 28 Se ember, and
(b)