TNAG-0115-FCO40-151-Departmental-briefs-for-Commonwealth-Prime-Minister-s-and-ot-1969 — Page 93

Origins and Aims of Associated Statehood

Speaking Notes on the Associated States

and Dependent Territories

My noble friend, Lord Brockway in his thoughtful speech

has raised a number of fundamental questions on the future

of the Associated States, and of our remaining dependent

territories.

I might usefully begin by speaking about the Associated

States.

When in 1965 we considered the future constitutional

status of the British dependencies in the Eastern Caribbean

we had the following principal objectives in our minds:-

(a) To reduce Britain's commitments in the area.

(b) To complete the process of decolonisation on

lines acceptable to the United Nations (General Assembly

Resolution 1541 (xv) of December 1960 recognised for the

first time that a non-self-governing territory can be said

to have achieved a full measure of self-government by

association with an independent state.)

(c) To avoid the proliferation of fully independent

but economically weak mini-states which might threaten the

political stability of the whole area (a policy strongly

urged by the United States.)

Associated statehood was devised to meet these object-

ives and also to provide a permanent, or at least reasonably

long-term, solution for the Eastern Caribbean States which

might be applied to those other remaining dependent terri-

tories, which while seeking and apparently capable of sustain-

ing internal self-government either do not want, or are not

/capable

CONFIDENTIAL