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Summarizing, Dr Mahatir said that he saw two objectives for the... EAEG; firstly to ensure the continuance of free trade by speaking with a stronger voice as a formal group in GATT; secondly helping Member countries of the EAEG to develop. the US and EC were entitled to a trade grouping then why not East Asia. It was all. very well the US trying to foist APEC onto the region using Japan and Australia as surrogates, but he had no idea what APEC was supposed to do. It amounted to nothing.
4.
Dr Mahatir said that he very much hoped this message could be passed on to the Secretary of State and to the Prime Minister. He hoped to see the Prime Minister in June and would raise it then. In a little while he could be sending emissaries to London and other European capitals to make formal presentations on the EAEG. But for the moment he was concentrating on winning over ASEAN partners.
5. Lord Caithness said that he was grateful to Dr Mahatir for this full explanation of the EAEG. Our own priorities were clear: we wanted to see a successful outcome to the GATT negotiations and the promotion of a global free trade environment. We would have no difficulty with any grouping, such as the EAEG, which shared these aims. It was not for us to impose arrangements on other parts of the world.
Environment
6.
At the beginning of the call there was a brief discussion of environmental issues. Dr Mahatir said that Malaysia needed to farm its forests not only to sell timber and timber products but also to clear land for plantations. Even so some 60% of the country would remain covered by tropical forest, with a further 10% accounted for by plantations. He was dismissive of arguments put forward by some environmentalists. He had no wish to preserve rare forms of species (he mentioned mosquitos and insects) which were frankly a nuisance. Nor did he see any virtue in protecting the natural habitat of primitive tribes. "Maggot eating" tribes should be introduced to the benefits of modern civilisation rather than being preserved as objects of curiosity (I paraphrase slightly).
Regional powers
7. In response to questions from Lord Caithness Dr Mahatir said we should not expect rapid change in China. There was no tradition of democracy there. If introduced it would lead to instability, as in India. China was gradually opening up economically. Its special economic zones would gradually expand. It was potentially a very big market. Economic expansion carried with it the risk of growing military power in the region. But that was a long way off and a risk that had
to be taken.
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