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He told Cowell that the DEA were now more receptive to this idea than they had been hitherto (at the meeting which we had with them in Hong Kong in June 1972 Rolph's suggestion of preemptive buying was given a very cold shoulder by the then Head of the DEA, John Ingersoll). Woolf is also reported as having said that he believed the Hong Kong Government to be more favourably disposed to the idea than they had been previously.
On the basis of this meeting Cowell agreed with Woolf to arrange a meeting between some of the leaders of the Shan State Army, Woolf and himself. This meeting is taking place (presumably in Thailand) during the course of this week. Cowell saw it as "break- ing the ice", an opportunity for each side to assess the other. The next stage as he sees it will be for a fuller meeting between Shan State leaders and some representative of the United States to negotiate the buying of a token amount of opium (possibly a ton) to prove good will on both sides - it will be very necessary in Cowell's view for whoever purchases opium to ensure that it is one hundred per cent opium and not, as on a previous occasion, very heavily cut. If such a sale could be negotiated and effected, Cowell suggests that the final stage would be an arrangement to purchase a substantial amount of the Burmese illicit opium crop, possibly on an ongoing basis.
He has given a great deal of thought to these ideas (as his paper on the Shan State Armie's proposal to end the opium trade shows). He has anticipated the stock objection to preemptive buying (namely that it will encourage further production) on the ground that the objection is made without knowledge of the social and agricultural conditions in the Shan States and he recognises the possible dip- lomatic objections to becoming involved with the Burmese insurgents in this way.
The reason that he wanted to have some background on Hong Kong is because he feels that the Hong Kong Government would have a direct interest in the diminution of the supply of opium and opium products from the Golden Triangle and that they might there- fore wish to be associated with whatever international initiative (presumably of the Americans) was taken in South East Asia. He informed me that Lester Woolf had announced his intention of calling in Hong Kong on his way to Thailand (about the New Year) and he himself hoped to go to Hong Kong to discuss his proposals with representatives of the Government after the meeting in Thailand ( his visit to Hong Kong is likely to be in the week beginn- ing Monday 13 January).
! As I agreed with you, I told Cowell that we would be willing to pave the way for his visit to Hong Kong by advising Normal Rolph that he was coming and who he was. I also tried to explain to Cowell, since he was by no means clear on this point, the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Government of Hong Kong, on matters such as the one under discusion. I did not give any indication of the likely attitude either of the United Kingdom Government or, even if I had known it, of the Hong Kong Government to what he was proposing.
As a preliminary to our discussion on Thursday, I should like to make the following points about Cowell's proposals, some of which are obvious. The first is that Lester Woolf does not speak for the United
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