TNAG-1302-FCO40-1658-Visits-by-Richard-Luce--Minister-of-State-for-Foreign-and-Co-1984 — Page 6

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6 There are no firm plans by other ministers to visit South East Asia but Mr Channon hopes to do so in March 1985 and

Mr Raison may also visit Indonesia then. There is a possibility that Lord Belstead may visit the region during 1985 but the

prospects are not good.

September/

7 Mr Luce visited Burma in /October 1984 and Brunei in February/

March 1984 (when he also called briefly at Kuala Lumpur).

Neither Burma nor Brunei would, accordingly, have priority for

a visit this time by Mr Luce. Nor would the Philippines, where

a visit by an FCO Minister would be liable to misinterpretation

as backing for President Marcos and his associates. Thailand,

Malaysia and Indonesia are the serious contenders for a visit.

Thailand

8 It is about two years since an FCO Minister paid a bilateral

visit to Thailand. Mr Luce passed through Bangkok in October on

his journeys to Burma, Korea and Japan. He then expressed the

hope to HM Ambassador, Bangkok, that it would be possible for him

to find convenient dates early in 1985 to pay a visit to Thailand.

Mr Luce also touched on this subject when he received the Thai

Foreign Minister, Air Chief Marshal Siddhi, in London on 12 November

ACM Siddhi subsequently referred to this in a conversation with

Mr Staples on 13 December and suggested that Mr Luce might like

to come at the end of the first week in February. A visit

early in the New Year would be timely to maintain the momentum

of our bilateral relations, political and economic (there are

several major contracts for which we are presently bidding).

Although the Thais have never expressed to us disappointment

that the Prime Minister is not scheduled to visit Thailand on

her South East Asia tour they may have felt this. The visit

by Mr Luce, ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to the region,

would help to assuage these feelings. We understand, that the

Thais may decide to celebrate in 1985 the Tercentenary of their

relations with Britain and France. This would give added

purpose to Mr Luce's visit. Moreover, if the Minister were to visit the Thai/Cambodia border, as Mr Staples has suggested

he should, this would afford a useful opportunity to underline

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