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serious reaction. Mr Morris undertook to let Mr Ratiani have
answers to three questions: the nature of the passport of the Taiwan representative in London, the flight path between Taipei and London, and the precise wording of the visas we ACTION issue to Taiwanese. (Miss Painting to pursue). Dr Vassiliev
explained that while both resource and policy constraints prevented the Russians from taking any major step, they felt the need to establish before long at least some sort of
Consular representation in Taipei. At the moment all there
was was a local (Taiwanese) agent who issued Aeroflot tickets
from Tokyo to Moscow!
North Korea
4.
Mr Morris asked for an assessment of Chinese policy
towards Korea. Dr Vassiliev said the Chinese still had
influence over North Korea and often worked closely with
them. But the Chinese were as worried as others about the
possibility of North Korea having a nuclear capability. He
asked about the latest position on IAEA Inspections, and Mr
Morris gave him a general update including reports of the
latest difficulties over IAEA inspections of suspect sites.
Speaking personally, he said he did not expect much progress
for two or three months while the "Team Spirit" exercise was
underway in South Korea. But, sooner or later, the nuclear
issue might have to be brought up at the UN. Dr Vassiliev
wondered what would happen if more Inspections were allowed but no suspect material was found. Would that prove
conclusive? He was sceptical.
Mongolia
5. Mr Morris referred to the Mongolian President's recent visit to Russia and Mongolids parlous economic state.
Dr Vassiliev said he was only really qualified to talk about
China's policy towards Mongolia. The Chinese were becoming
"more active" in Ulaanbaatar "but not openly so". Although
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