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Documents

March 23, 1979

Cabinet Ministerial Group on Nuclear Non-Proliferation, 'Pakistan's Nuclear Programme: Pressures and Inducements'

This report, created in March 1979 by the Ministerial Group on Nuclear Non-Proliferation, explores the state of Pakistan’s nuclear program. The document also explores topics like Pakistan’s political status among its neighbors in the Arab world, as well as possible ways Pakistan could be induced to terminate its nuclear activities.

In the face of alarmists such as Arthur Hummel in the US and Anthony Parsons in the UK, the influential British analysts on the Ministerial Group on Nuclear Non-proliferation thought it unlikely that Arab countries would knowingly fund Pakistan's nuclear programme, even though it was suggested many Muslim states might welcome a co-religionist achieving the ‘ultimate technological feat’. For nations such as Saudi Arabia, relations with the West were situated as far more significant than connections with Islamabad, despite Pakistan's position as a bulwark between the Muslim world and the USSR. The group suggested enlisting Arab governments in order to put pan-Islamic pressure on Pakistan, arguing that security concerns related to India – and not a desire to equip the Muslim world with a ‘nuclear sword’ – were the nuclear programme's main drivers. Addressing Islamabad’s security issues – a constant in British and American discussions about Pakistan – represented the surest way of achieving positive results. Where the pan-Islamic issue might come into play – analysts suggested – was after any Pakistani nuclear test, where Islamabad might enlist Muslim countries to help resist Western pressure to give up ‘the first nuclear weapon to be developed in a Moslem country.'

July 2, 1962

Foreign Office, Northern Department, 'China-Soviet Union-Korea-Vietnam' [Excerpt]

This exceprt from an exploratory minute attempts to pinpoint North Korea’s shifting position between Moscow and Beijing by examining the speeches that Peng Zhen and Choe Yong-geon (Ch’oe Yonggŏn) made during the former’s visit in the DPRK.

April 1962

Prime Minister's Visit to Washington, April 1962, Defensive Brief No. 1, 'Sino-Soviet Relations'

A defensive brief written for Harold Macmillan’s April 1962 talks with John F. Kennedy that outlines the similarities and differences between British and US approaches towards the Sino-Soviet split.

January 19, 1962

Visit of the Italian Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to the U.K. in Jan. 1962, Brief No. 5, 'Sino-Soviet Relations and Albania: East-West Relations Generally'

Written for the visit of Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani (January 1962), this brief describes the Sino-Soviet split as well as Albania's international relations.

May 25, 1974

Meeting between Chairman Mao Tse-Tung [Mao Zedong] and Mr. Heath, Saturday, 25 May, 1974, approximately 1.15-2.45pm

U.K. Prime Minister Edward Heath and Chairman Mao discussed the following topics: U.S.-Soviet relations, Watergate, Chinese-U.S. relations, U.S. bases in Asia, a united Europe, Sino-Soviet relations, British-Soviet relations, and British-Chinese relations.

September 6, 1954

Australian Government Trade Commissioner, Hong Kong, to the Secretary, Department of External Affairs, 'Visit to China by the British Labour Party Delegation'

This is a report on a visit by Clement Attlee's Labor Party delegation to China in August 1954. The report covers wide ground, summarizing the delegates' experiences and views on events in China, and contains a short account of Attlee's conversation with Mao Zedong. Mao and Attlee disagreed about the Soviet Union's policy towards Eastern Europe, and Mao, after defending the Soviet record, in the end admitted that he simply did not know enough about the situation in Eastern Europe. There was also some discussion of Taiwan, though Attlee was given the impression that China would not attack Taiwan for at least 10 years. There is also an interesting quote: "The delegation... received or were confirmed in the impression that the Chinese Government was... living in a world of delusions. The state had been reached where the Central People's Government viewed the outside world not as it was but according to how they thought it should be."

February 8, 1979

Cable from the British Embassy in Tokyo to the British Embassy in Seoul, 'Visit of Deng Xiaoping'

A summary of remarks made by Deng Xiaoping to Japanese officials regarding developments on the Korean Peninsula.