TNAG-0940-FCO40-1159-Visits-by-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-Ministers-and-officials-t-1980 — Page 12

CONFIDENTIAL

4

more than double the plant's thermal efficiency), and recondi-

tion and relocate other generators elsewhere in North Vietnam.

6.

Overall, I was left with an unresolved query: how could

a country which seems remarkably incapable of competent civil administration be such a paragon of military efficiency? Are

all the managerial resources in the armed forces, or is that

reputation also a myth - and if so, should we lower our esti-

mates of what the Vietnamese can achieve militarily in Cambodia

'if they really wanted to'?

SOUTH EAST ASIAN DEPARTMENT

16 December 1980

CONFIDENTIAL