TNAG-0865-FCO40-1075-Involvement-of-Hong-Kong-in-air-services-agreements-1979 — Page 146

CONFIDENTIAL

HKK. 184/1

LIVEO IN REGISTRY NO. 51. FAUG1979

LA

Air fericis

NK

3/8 Мукий

357

Ru 13/vin

CORD OF CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY AND THE AUSTRALIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS HELD AT THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE AT 4:156. ON STULY 1979

NASTULY

IN

PA

Action Taken

Present

The Rt Hon The Lord Carrington KCMG MC

Mr Peter Blaker MP

Mr HAH Cortazzi

The Hon. Andrew Peacock MP

The Hon. Sir Gordon Freeth

Mr A Griffiths

Mr D Evans

1.

Mr R J Alston

Mr JMO Snodgrass

Mr R W Renwick (first item)

Mr JS Wall

Mr M Cook

Mr C Mott

After the Secretary of State had had a private discussion with Mr Peacock, without any officials present, for about 10 minutes, the remaining participants were invited to join them.

COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT MEETING

2.

also

Mr Peacock thanked Lord Carrington and British officials for consistently keeping Australia informed about British thinking on Rhodesia. The Australians were in contact with many other Commonwealth Governments. They accepted that Rhodesia and the handling of the issue at Lusaka was primarily a United Kingdom responsibility, and wished to be reasonably forthcoming and helpful in a Commonwealth context, but not at the expense of the United Kingdom plans; although Mr Fraser might wish to refer, for example, to the inadequacies of the constitution. But Australia did not want to see the Lusaka Conference as a forum where Heads of Government would have to negotiate on a precise plan.

3. Lord Carrington expressed relief. He had earlier had the impression that Mr Fraser envisaged that we might agree to put precise proposals to the Conference. This would have put the United Kingdom into a corner, and would have been a recipe for disaster. He envisaged that Mrs Thatcher would open the debate on Rhodesia on the Friday, explaining the policy in general terms, and that she would then hope to make a forthcoming response, perhaps on the Monday, in the light of views expressed by other participants. He wanted to end up in Rhodesia with a constitution which would be on all fours with those given by Britain to other colonial territories. The difficulty was not what we wanted but how to get there.

4. Mr Peacock asked what Lord Carrington saw as the main dangers in the Conference. Did the consultations Britain had carried out so far indicate that African acceptance of our viewpoint was possible?

1.