TNAG-0779-FCO40-983-Involvement-of-Hong-Kong-in-air-services-agreements-1978 — Page 104

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DSR 11C

MAIN PAPER Replace paragraphs 17 and 18 by those below

17.

of the other countries, in air service terms,

Malaysia could actually improve her present position,

at the expense of Singapore. But she is likely to complain

that the new arrangement will have the effect of inhibiting

her ambitions for MAS' expansion which she explained to a

UK delegation in London in May. There would be some

truth in this. But Malaysia would have no justification

in air service terms for such a complaint.

made no commitment to help Malaysia realise her ambitions for MAS: we simply expressed sympathy with the need for

MAS to plan ahead. Nevertheless the Malaysian reaction

could be sharp and might postpone still further their

agreement to Concorde overflight of their territorial waters.

In any case we

17a.

There is also the risk that Malaysiaand other

countries in South East Asia will gang up with Singapore

in ASEAN against the new arrangement. Mr Lee Kuan Yew

has already criticised what has so far appeared in public

about Australian intentions: "If the developed world

chooses to bypass the undeveloped parts of the world I

can only see it accentuating the divide (between them)".

There have also been press reports that ASEAN have expressed

/concern

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