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a further rapid growth in their activities, even though we regarded those commitments as imprudent.
4. Rogers explained that he had gone out of his way to visit Singapore before his visit to Canberra in January. However, although he had found both Sim Kee Boon and the top management of SIA willing to talk in realistic terms they had been forbidden to pursue discussions any further and we had subsequently been given to understand that the Singapore Government did not wish to have any further discussions with us at that stage. Thus, although
he had transitted Singapore on more than one occasion during his subsequent journeys in the Far East the opportunities this would have afforded for businesslike discussion had not been utilised.
Since then, we had awaited an approach from Singapore.
5. In response to Low's suggestion that it would suffice for Singapore and her ASEAN colleagues to settle their differences with Australia and that this would automatically resolve any problems between Singapore and the UK, Rogers explained that we had important interests at stake as regards both the Metropolitan UK and Hong Kong, and that it could not be taken for granted that the Australian Government was entitled to speak on our behalf.
6.
This applied particularly to the question of fares between London and Singapore, about which there had been no discussions since his visit to Singapore in January. This was not a topic which the Australians were in a position to discuss or which we would be prepared for them to discuss on our behalf. Here again it was for Singapore (possibly in collaboration with their ASEAN colleagues) to make the next move.
7. In answer to Low's questions about our attitude towards the outcome of the Australian/ASEAN meeting on 20/21 March Rogers said that the only substantial result appeared to have been an agreement on fares between Australia and the ASEAN countries. In pressing forward with this, the ASEAN countries appeared to have disregarded our interests in Hong Kong. Hong Kong offered much the same attractions to Australian tourists as Singapore: while Hong Kong and Bangkok were virtually equidistant from Sydney. Yet the ASEAN countries had not consulted us before pressing forward with competing fares. As the Singaporeans knew, at our meeting with
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