TNAG-1302-FCO40-1658-Visits-by-Richard-Luce--Minister-of-State-for-Foreign-and-Co-1984 — Page 8

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Timing

11 Mr Luce's proposed dates for a visit, 17-22 February,

coincide with the Chinese New Year. Mr Staples has advised

that these would not be suitable dates to visit Bangkok.

The Malaysians also celebrate the Chinese New Year. I under-

stand that it might be possible for Mr Luce to pay a visit

earlier in the month, possibly from 11-15 February.

This would

be very close to ACM Siddhi's proposal (para 8 above). As

far as we know, that time would also be convenient in Kuala Lumpur

(or Jakarta) though we have not consulted posts.

النسا

David Carter

South East Asian Department

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HKK 027/12

RECEIVED 19 Tyr013 Irvi

VISIT OF MR LUCE: CALL ON MR MATSON 1984 ADMINISTRATIVE VICE MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 1500-1630 HOURS, TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER 1984

INDEX

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Weful accement of Japanse ports of whats

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Taken

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125

Present:

Minister of State

Sir S Giffard

Mr B Hitch

Mr Warren-Gash

Mr K Darroch

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Mr Matsunaga

(Administrative Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs)

Mr Nishiyama

(Director General for European and Oceanic Affairs Bureau)

Mr Arima

(Deputy Director General for Asian Affairs)

Mr Kume

(Deputy Director General for Middle East and African Affairs)

Mr Umezu

(Director, Second West Europe Division)

1.

Mr Matsunaga welcomed Mr Luce to Japan. He said he was glad of the opportunity for discussions with him and noted that

there was a full agenda to get through. Mr Luce expressed appreciation for his reception in Japan and said he had been struck by the goodwill that had been shown for Britain and by the strength of Japan-UK relations.

China

2. Mr Matsunaga said that in the Japanese view the internal situation in China, especially in the political field, was relatively stable. They thought the regime of Deng, Hu, and Zhao was well-established. There had been opposition in some local regions but not of sufficient size or importance to worry the regime; on the contrary, the present leadership seemed well-entrenched. The Japanese expected the present open door economic policy to be maintained for the foreseeable future. Chinese leaders emphasised this point on every occasion at which they met Japanese. The Japanese government believed

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/strongly

J

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strongly that if China was to establish her economy on a sound basis, she needed foreign capital and foreign technology.

Japan intended to provide this sort of help to China. The

Chinese government would undoubtedly face domestic economic

problems in the future and there was no certainty that their

current policies would cope but in the Japanese opinion these

policies were the right ones and they did not,

at present,

anticipate any sudden changes of direction.

3. On Sino-Japanese relations, the picture was extremely good.

Bilateral relations were progressing very smoothly and there

were no difficult bilateral issues. Hu's visit to Japan in

November and Mr Nakasone's to China in March had demonstrated

clearly that both China and Japan were looking towards still

closer relations in the future. Japan was confident that the

maintenance of a good bilateral relationship would contribute

not just to the stability of the two countries involved but

also to the peace and security of the Asian region and of the

world.

4. Mr Matsunaga observed that China's modernisation policy required the cooperation of the West including Japan.

It was in the West's interests to keep China on her present moderate course and Japan felt strongly that the US and Europe, as well as herself, should maintain close relations with China.

5. Mr Matsunaga said that Japan had good relations with Taiwan in terms of economic activities, though there was of course no official relationship. Japanese investment in, and trade with, Taiwan had increased substantially since normalisation with China. There had been an understanding with Peking at the time of normalisation that Japan's relations with Taiwan

could improve, provided that they remained unofficial and pro- vided also that Sino-Japanese relations progressed.

He was convinced that this policy had worked. The US operated a slightly different policy towards Taiwan, since she was required for internal political reasons openly to maintain good relations

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/with