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to be persuaded to seize the key symbols of power and to use
them to project himself. He should take the Prime Minister's
post and then speak for Cambodia. It did not matter what the others
did and Mr Dhanabalan thought it most unlikely that the Khmer
Rouge would want to contradict anything which Son Sann said once
he had taken office. What he needed from his friends was a
commitment to help him grow and the maintenance of pressure on
Vietnam. The French policy here was of no help. Lord Carrington
agreed and said that he thought the French idea that by giving
aid they would be able to influence the political actions of the
Vietnamese government was living in cloud cuckoo land.
10. Lord Carrington then asked how Singapore perceived relations
between China and the US. Mr Dhanabalan said that there were
some worrying features for Singapore and ASEAN. The United States
seemed keen to take a stand on Taiwan that would show that the
United States was honourable and stood by its commitments.
Singapore was worried that the US might, in order to minimise
the irritation to China, go along with Chinese policy on other
problems such as Cambodia. Lord Carrington said that he had
found it striking, but rather depressing, that in none of his
other talks had the US role been mentioned until he had brought
it up.
Mr Donald commented that there was a feeling that because
of Taiwan the US had lost leverage in Peking. Lord Carrington
and Mr Dhanabalan agreed that the present position was the worst
of all worlds. If the US conceded to China over Taiwan, she
would appear in ASEAN to be an unreliable ally but if she did not
then she would have no influence in Peking. Mr Dhanabalan
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