191. Telegram From Secretary of State Muskie Delegation to the Department of State, the Embassy in Burma, and the Mission to the United Nations1
Secto 8050. Subject: (U) Secretary Muskie’s Bilateral With Burmese Foreign Minister U Lay Maung.
1. (C–Entire text).
2. Secretary Muskie held a meeting Sept. 30 with Burmese FM U Lay Maung notable for its extremely cordial atmosphere. The Secretary recalled that he had visited Rangoon on Thanksgiving day, 1965 and had a good meeting with Ne Win. U Lay Maung responded that Ne Win told him he remembered the visit with pleasure. The Secretary expressed appreciation for Burmese efforts to reduce the narcotics traffic, which he understood had been quite successful. The Foreign Minister thanked Secretary Muskie for the helicopters and other material support which the U.S. provide for the Burmese anti-narcotics effort and for crop substitution programs and he praised the cooperation the SRUB obtained from the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon. He explained the difficult terrain conditions making use of aircraft essential in the narcotics effort, and he also described the problems with the Burmese Communist Party along the Chinese border. He expressed appreciation for Mathea Falco’s representations to the Chinese regarding their support for the BCP, which he said PRC representatives had mentioned to the SRUB.
3. The Secretary asked about Burma’s relations with ASEAN. U Lay Maung said that Burma could not join ASEAN because its policy was one of strict neutrality and ASEAN was a Western-leaning organization. Similarly, Burma had left the non-aligned movement because it had lost its true neutral spirit. Burma’s views on Kampuchea are similar to Thailand’s, however, and the SRUB will vote in favor of DK seating because it does not approve of armed intervention.
4. U Lay Maung described the recent amnesty offered by the SRUB, including Ne Win’s personal letter to U Nu inviting him to return from exile, and he listed the other groups which had turned themselves in under the amnesty.
5. The Foreign Minister asked the Secretary’s views on the Iran/Iraq conflict. The Secretary described his meeting that day with Iraq’s [Page 666] Foreign Minister, in which he explained the great dangers which the U.S. saw in the current situation, particularly the potential for escalation. The Secretary stressed the significance of the U.S. decision to send an AWACS unit to Saudi Arabia. He emphasized that this was for defensive purposes only to help assure defense of Middle East oil fields.
6. Also present were Assistant Secretary Holbrooke, Assistant Secretary Falco, Ambassador Petree, Don Gregg of the NSC, the Burmese PermRep to the UN, and Acting IMBS Director Landberg.
7. Correction in text. Para 2 line 11 the word “provide” should be “provided.”
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Muskie Subject Files, Entry P–10, Box 2, Memoranda, 1980–1981. Confidential; Immediate. Sent for information Priority to Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok, and CINCPAC for POLAD.↩