0003160 G.F. 316
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Opium Crop Substitution Programmes
ECLIPSE
12.
The Americans consider that because of the restricted amount of money available from U.N. sources, it will not be possible to develop these programmes beyond the present scope, or any faster than is being done at present. Crop substitution, therefore, can only be regarded as a very long term solution. Since the Americans provide by far the major amount of money to the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control to finance these projects nothing is to be gained by pursuing this matter further with a view to faster action at ground level.
Opium Monopolies - Pre-emptive Buying
13.
The Americans are strongly opposed to any form of opium monopoly or pre-emptive buying of opium products from the Golden Triangle area. They opine that such a procedure simply could not be made to work effectively because much of the region is not under Government control. In addition, it would only be likely to encourage opium production and may be in contravention of the spirit, if not the letter, of the Single Convention. This must now be considered to be a dead letter.
The Position of China regarding the Illicit Drug Trade
14.
Advantage was seen in ascertaining China's attitude to the illicit drug trade and enlisting the moral force of that country in a positive way towards the suppression of it if this is possible. However, it was agreed that caution is required and that any progress in this direction is likely to be slow. It was felt that any initial approaches should be made informally rather than by way of a formal demarche in Peking. This is an issue which can be taken up as opportunity offers. A visit to Peking by Sir Harry Greenfield, President of the International Narcotics Control Board, would be useful if this could be arranged, but his independent status as a member of the Board needs to be kept in mind.
The Searching of Thai Trawlers by Chinese Patrol Vessels
15.
There was some discussion about the possibility of asking the Chinese Government to stop and search any Thai trawlers encount- ered in Chinese territorial waters in the vicinity of Hong Kong. The very real difficulties for Hong Kong which such a procedure could lead to were fully explained, particularly in relation to the terms of the 1898 Treaty with China and the lack of agreement
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