NewYork, 6 June 1975
O.UN3109 CONFIDENTIAL PRIORITY
Committee of Twenty-Four: Portuguese Timor
Ref O.UN3103, O.CH2269981
Sani has not yet had any reaction from Jakarta. We have told him that our Embassy will be taking up the matter there.
- Sani sees a virtue in the deletion of ‘soon’ but has doubts about deleting the reference to ‘independence’. He has argued to Jakarta already that the reference to independence repeats the wording of the decolonisation declaration2 and that, on this ground alone, it is awkward to raise objections to it. He also feels that to do so could create an unnecessary debate at this stage. It was for these reasons that he proposed instead to ‘interpret’ the option of independence as including independence ‘within Indonesia’.
- We note your instruction to Lisbon. It is unlikely that the Portuguese will have received the working paper and in this case it might be premature to raise the question with them so early. There is also a risk that it would become known through them to the Eastern Europeans and others, possibly in a distorted form, that we were seeking to change the draft.
- Sani leaves New York on Monday and may well not be in a position to have any substantive discussion with Salim before then. There will, however, be ample time and opportunity for Campbell to concert and consult in Lisbon in the second half of next week. The decision on the territories under Portuguese administration will not be adopted before the afternoon of Friday 13 or morning of Saturday 14 at the earliest, and could well be held over till the following week.
HARRY
[NAA: A10463, 801/13/11/1, ix]
- 1 Document 139 and 140.
- 2 That is, UN Resolution 1514. See note 4 to Document 66.