TNAG-0926-FCO40-1144-Future-of-the-Dependent-Territories-1980 — Page 199

S M Preston Esq Mayfield

Clareston Road

Tenby

Pembrokeshire

HKG 025/1

RECEIVED A

TY NO. 51

07 FEB 1980

DESK OFFICER INDEX

HKG 025/1

REGISTRY Action Taken

6 February 1980

ny

78글

PA

On behalf of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Common- wealth Affairs, I write in reply to your letter of 31 January 1980 concerning the policy of Her Majesty's Government over the future of the remaining British Dependencies.

Since 1945, when the UN Charter formally acknowledged the principle of self-determination for colonial peoples, success- ive British Governments have given every help and encouragement to Dependent Territories wishing to become independent. To this end we are committed to the creation of competent political and economic institutions in our dependencies. At the same time it has been a consistent part of our policy that, in accordance with the Charter's acknowledgement (Article 73) "the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount", no territory should be forced into independence against the will of its population. This policy has been part- icularly emphasised in the case of the four territories you mentioned in your letter which all have delicate political problems involving neighbouring countries, and HM Government have repeatedly given assurances that final decisions will not be taken against the will of the people concerned.

Each dependency has its own different set of problems and no single solution can be applied to them all. However most territories today are virtually self-governing. Each territory must move forward in its own time according to its own talent and capacity for self-determination. On the question of aid, our policy is that the reasonable needs of our dependencies have first call on available aid funds. This policy is linked with our general decolonisation policy and can be described as helping territories to achieve as quickly as possible self- sustaining growth by building up and making maximum use of local resources so that from their own funds they can increasingly

choose and finance their own social and economic priorities.

/You