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frigate deal, might provide a first step back towards normali-
sation.
7. When recommending a visit to India by the Secretary of State
last year, it was also suggested that there would be benefit in
his visiting a number of the ASEAN countries. These plans failed
to materialise, but the case for a visit remains strong despite
the possibility that the Defence Minister of Singapore and the
Deputy Defence Malaysia may take up outstanding invitations to
visit the UK during the course of this year. The main objective
of such a visit would be Indonesia in view of her importance
as a market for our defence equipment and as a major political
force in the area. Singapore's importance in these respects
is also considerable, and contacts with her Defence Minister,
Goh, have recently assumed a new importance with his promotion
to the post of First Deputy Prime Minister and, by implication,
his designation as heir apparent to Lee Kuan Yew.
(This argues,
whether or not the Secretary of State visits the area, for rein-
forcing our invitation to him to visit the UK; we shall submit
separately on this shortly). A high level visit to the area
would also carry a special significance in relation to our member-
ship, with Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand of the
Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA). Against this, any visit
which takes in Indonesia will run the risk of attracting the
criticism of human rights groups; however the FCO consider that,
with careful presentation, this problem is manageable and support
our recommendation that, provided convenient dates can be found,
the Secretary of State should make a visit to these three countries:
a visit during the latter half of the year is therefore proposed.
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