CONFIDENTIAL
3.
exercising 5th freedom beyond Hong Kong to Tokyo as well as Taipei.
9.
I recommend that we tell the DOT that they may table the proposed paper tomorrow, provided they make it clear that we are prepared to negotiate on it, but that we reserve our position on the extent of further British concessions at this juncture. MAED Concus.
31 May 1979
টি
RP Flower
South East Asian Department
1. As always with civil aviation negotiations, this is a hideously complicated affair. In the case of Malaysia it is complicated still further by the Malaysians inbuilt belief that they can demand more from the UK for political and historical reasons than civil aviation terms can possibly justify.
BACKGROUND
2.
In
The history of civil aviation negotiations with Malaysia is bedevilled with emotion. Up to now, the Malaysians have made more profit from the Kuala Lumpur/London route than British Airways. 1977, imprudently, they bought wide-bodied aircraft to put on this trunk route before they had negotiated traffic rights; the nego- tiations in that year were bitter and the UK side wrung a number of advantages from the Malaysians, in return for letting them use their DC10s, in an attempt partly to balance up the profits to each country. The Malaysians were deeply hurt that we had "screwed them"; and when we then asked for Concorde overflying rights, and they refused, there was a crisis in Anglo/Malaysian relations across the board which was not resolved until late last year Nevertheless, the Malaysians still believe that we should concede them more in civil aviation
/terms,
CONFIDENTIAL
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