19/1
SECRET
PL O'Keefe Esq
Hong Kong and Indian Ocean Dept
FCO
ん M Walton
BRITISH EMBASSY
BANGKOK
18 July 1975
RL..
118
1
125
Jee Lermina
NARCOTICS:
1.
INTERCEPTION OF THAI TRAWLERS
Thank you for sending me a copy of your letter HKK 19/1 of 3 July to Alan Donald in Hong Kong and the record of the meeting held in London on 25 June about the control of drug trafficking in the Far East.
A
2. It is clear from your letter that there are legal, financial and political vis à vis China problems involved in the suggestion that either a Thai trawler be based in Hong Kong or a Royal Naval vessel should be prepared to put a Thai police official aboard Thai trawlers in international waters. These are problems which we in Bangkok fully realise may be insuperable but are not for consideration here.
3. From the Bangkok point of view there would seem to be every advantage in being as helpful to the Thais as possible. The presence of Peter Law here as Counsellor for Hong Kong Affairs is, and has been taken by the Thais to be, an indication of our very strong interest in co-operating with them and the Americans to combat the illegal trade in narcotic drugs in this part of the world. The Thais, and more particularly the Americans, have warmly welcomed this demonstration of our interest and readiness to be as helpful as possible. Indeed the suppression of the illegal drug trade, the Thais might well argue, is rather more closely tied to the interests of Hong Kong and the United States than to those of Thailand itself; Thailand shows a sizeable profit from the trade and has a smaller addiction problem. Unless therefore we can give the Thais convincing reasons for turning down the two suggestions for intercepting their trawlers on the high seas, there is a danger that they will take our failure to agree as an indication that we and the Government of Hong Kong are rather less serious about our efforts to suppress the illegal drug trade than we have previously led them to believe.
li tr
Jour
Jher
E J Sharland
cc J D I Boyd Esų, Peking
A E Donald Esq, Hong Kong
SECRET
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