Dr. John CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish the protocol signed with the Government of Malaysia in March 1988 which included references to aid and defence equipment sales; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdIt is established practice that confidential documents exchanged between Governments on such matters as defence sales should not be published. The Government will co-operate fully with the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs in the inquiry which it announced on 26 January.
Dr. John CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when Her Majesty's Government began discussions with the Government of Malaysia about the construction of a military base at Mersing in Malaysia; whether such discussions took place concurrently with talks about his Department's funding for the Pergau dam project; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdDiscussions between the two Governments about a military base at Mersing first took place in July 1987.
The application from the British consortium for support from the aid and trade provision for the Pergau hydro-electric project was received in November 1988.
Discussions of the two issues were entirely independent of each other and have remained so.