TNAG-2915-FCO40-4190-International-support-from-European-countries-regarding-the--1993 — Page 48

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4.

The Russian side reported that the Vietnamese Foreign Minister had been invited to visit Russia at the end of April/beginning of May. The Russians were looking to this visit to restart their relations with Vietnam. The Governmental Commission for Economic Cooperation was also due to meet later in the year.

There had been some progress on the question of Vietnamese debt although there was still a long way to go. The Russian government had reduced its military presence at Cam Ranh Bay to a very Low Level but had no plans to close the base in the near future. The Russian parliament had, after close scrutiny, agreed with this position, and the Russians believed that other Asian states wanted to maintain a Russian presence in the region to maintain the "balance of power".

5. Sir J Coles said that British and Russian views on Vietnam seemed very similar. The attitude of the US towards Vietnam was important. A recent US statement had envisaged the normalisation of relations during President Clinton's term of office. US difficulties were understandable. But he rather hoped normalisation would come about a good deal more quickly.

TAIWAN

6.

The Russians said their links with Taiwan were growing, further improvements were expected, and air links might follow. Sir J Coles explained the considerable care taken in keeping the Chinese informed about the start of UK-Taiwan air Links, and our restrictive position on defence sales to Taiwan. It was noted that Taiwan was seeking to establish parallel diplomatic representation alongside that of China, and had apparently succeeded in Vanuatu and Latvia.

CHINA

7.

Shared views for the most part on the outcome of the National People's Congress (NPC), the significance of recent leadership changes, and areas of mutual concern including Conventional Arms Talks and Human Rights. There was a consensus view that the present Leadership were committed to maintaining stability and to speeding up economic reform process. The Russians were inclined to think that Jiang Zemin exercised real power now that he occupied the top state, party and military posts.

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