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Secretary General of the Arab League, Mr Ibrahimi, had told him that the United States Government had misread the signals which the evacuation of the American Embassy in Beirut would give. The evacuation had been interpreted as an indication that the United States Government wanted to wash its hands of the Lebanon and did not object strongly to Syrian action, though both President Bush and Mr Baker had assured him that this was not the case. The United States Government had taken the decision not simply as a result of General Aoun's attitude but also because some of General Aoun's supporters had put pistols to the heads of American Embassy staff.

NFIDENTIAL

Argentina

Previous Reference:

CC (89) 26.3

THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY said that the discussions in New York between the United Kingdom Representative to the United Nations and his Argentine counterpart on 16/17 August had gone well. These would be followed by a round of official talks in Madrid on 17/18 octope and the agenda for these discussions had been agreed. It was clear that the question of sovereignty would be set aside. The contacts Argentina had gone well so far, in a suitably low key, but it wasportant not to create exaggerated expectations.

Hungary

FID

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE said that his visit to Hungary from 4 to 7 September had been very useful. The speed of change in Hungary was remarkable. addition to the Defence Minister, he had

Bazsgay, who was likely to be the

seen President Straub and

Hungarian Socialist Workers Party candidate in the Presidential elections and who would visit Britain in October. All the senior Hungarian political figures had made clear that the present economic and political system in Hungary and pot work. The losses of the state industries were unacceptable Moves were in hand to establish a much more market-oriented system During his visit the Hungarian Government had decided unilaterally to set aside their treaty with the German Democratic Republic in order to allow the refugees to leave. At a press conference the Hungarian Defence Minister had said categorically that a projected visit by the Romanian Defence Minister would not take place, although months later a Warsaw Pact meeting of Defence Ministers was scheduled to take place in Budapest. All the senior Hungarian officials had emphasised the need for practical help from Western countries.

1

Low Flying ircraft

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE said that Herr Stoltenberg, the Defence Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany, would shortly make a statement in the Bundestag on low flying aircraft He had persuaded him not to emphasise the planned changes in these

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CONFIDENTIAL

NFIDENTIAL

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