CONFIDENTIAL
7. Not recorded is the discussion about East Timor over lunch. Dr Zeller spoke at some length about the way in which the Portuguese were seeking to involve their EC partners in the East Timor issue to promote domestic political ends, and about the potential damage to relations with Indonesia. He hoped that the UK, as Portugal's "oldest ally", would be able to find some way of persuading the Portuguese to change their approach. (Jakarta Telno 468, reporting Indonesian Foreign Minister Alatas's warning to EC Heads of Mission, is relevant.) We agreed that it would be best to discuss the Portuguese proposal for a report on the situation in East Timor in the Asian Working Group rather than the Human Rights Working Group.
8.
Discussion was relaxed and informal and I was struck by the extent to which our various German interlocutors were debating some of the issues among themselves as well as with us. While nothing of special note emerged, I am sure that it is worth maintaining contact with the Germans bilaterally.
Revangen
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CONFIDENTIAL
R JT McLaren