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RECORD OF A CALL ON LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS BY MEMBERS OF THECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
BRITAIN-VIETNAM ASSOCIATION: TUESDAY 31 OCTOBER AT 4 PM
Present
The Rt Hon The Lord Goronwy-Roberts
Mr B Smith
(South East Asian Department)
Mr F A Doherty
(APS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts)
1.
6 NOV 1978
DESK OFFICER INDEX
No
Mr Gwilym Roberts MP (Chairman of the Britain-
Vietnam Association)
Mrs Gloria Frankel
PA
Mr Roberts said that he had not called to make any specific
request; but his Committee felt the need to encourage normal
relations between Vietnam and the UK. He had expressed to Mrs Judith Hart at the Labour Party Conference the feeling in his
Committee that the relationship was not normal, unlike the relationship with other Third World countries. The Committee's views had been brought to a head by their feeling that there was a campaign at present in the media against Vietnam. It was easy in London to make harsh judgements about the situation in South
East Asia; he had seen various programmes on the television which
built up a one sided argument amounting almost to vilification. He realised that this had nothing to do with the Government. But he held the view that in recent months, because of human rights' questions, there was a similar anti-Vietnamese bias building up within Government circles. Mr Roberts said there were signs of an improvement even in Vietnam/United States relations. He asked how
the FCO viewed the matter.
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2. Mrs Frankel added that, when members of the Association had
seen Mrs Judith Hart in the Spring, she had pointed out that it would be difficult for the Government to agree to an aid programme for Vietnam in view of the human rights' situation there. Mrs Frankel asked whether the FCO had any hard information about
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/human rights'
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