Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XIII, Conflict in the South Atlantic, 1981–1984

398. Telegram From Secretary of State Shultz to the Department of State and the Embassy in the United Kingdom¹

New York, September 29, 1982, 1800Z

Secto 13019. Subject: (U) Secretary’s Sept. 28 UNGA Bilateral With UK Foreign Secretary Pym: The Falklands.

1. (C–Entire text).

2. Summary: During his Sept. 28 bilateral breakfast with the Secretary on the margins of the UNGA, Pym rehearsed British objections to an UNGA resolution on the Falklands in familiar but forcefully animated terms. Pym asked for help in encouraging the Argentines to agree to a formal end to hostilities and said the UK could see no point in discussing a resolution for the immediate future. Now is not the time to talk with the Argentines about the long term, he argued. The Secretary told Pym that it is difficult for the U.S. to oppose a moderate resolution that does not prejudge the sovereignty issue or set an unrealistic deadline for negotiations. End summary.

3. The Secretary informed Pym that he had met the previous day with the Argentine Foreign Minister.² A resolution on the Falklands that prejudges the sovereignty issue or sets an unrealistic deadline will not have U.S. support, the Secretary said. It is, however, difficult for the U.S. to oppose a moderate resolution that does not prejudge the sovereignty issue. We had, he added, held up at British request our decision to reopen the small pipeline of FMS sales to Argentina until after the EC Ministers met on September 20–21.

4. Pym said the UK does not know what the Argentine resolution will say. The UK is attempting to normalize relations with Argentina, but is finding it difficult to do so. The key point is that Buenos Aires has not yet ended hostilities. UK soldiers and sailors continue to be at risk. Mines remain in and around Port Stanley. The scars have to heal, and the UK is asking all its friends to use their influence to convince Argentina formally to end hostilities. In the meantime, the idea of talking about a resolution has no appeal. Perhaps prospects will be better in a year. Pym added that he hoped we could not be faced with a waffling resolution that the U.S. thinks it could support. It would be better to have one that is clear cut and vote on it as such.

5. Ambassador Kirkpatrick observed that changes in the Argentine draft had been made the previous day. The preambular material is particularly bad. The Secretary observed that the Argentines appear to be aiming at a resolution with an operative paragraph that does not prejudge but with preambular material that does. Pym interjected that the UNGA resolution effort is an Argentine smokescreen. The weak Argentine Government is attempting to use it for domestic purposes. There is no way the UK can go along until there is a better atmosphere between the two countries and the mines are picked up. In Latin America there is some support for the Argentine resolution because of Latin solidarity. Pym repeated that there is no way the UK can delude itself into agreeing with any resolution, even one that does not prejudge the sovereignty issue. To do so would be an illusion of the kind that Perez de Cuellar had written about in his report.³

6. Pym said the UK is more than willing to talk with the Argentines, but now is not the time to talk about the long term. What about the rights of the Islanders, he asked. UK PermRep Thompson said he had been surprised by the extent of the sympathy the UK had received for its position, especially from the African delegates. A clear majority is on the UK side. There may be a great deal of discussion and debate, but in the end Argentina will come down to saying the dispute is over sovereignty. However, many African, Caribbean and Asian representatives will see it as a dispute over the future of a people.

7. The Secretary reiterated that the US supports the principle the UK fought for in the Falklands war, to which Pym said he wondered how far back one must go to unroll history—to the incorporation of Texas into the U.S.? The Latin Americans didn’t do anything to support Argentina for a century and a half, he said. The meeting ended with Ambassador Kirkpatrick noting that Venezuela has now asked Perez de Cuellar to mediate the Guyana-Venezuela border dispute.

8. Also present at the meeting were: UK Ambassador Wright, UK PermRep Thompson, FCO Political Director Bullard, Private Secretary Fall. U.S.: Ambassador Kirkpatrick, Under Secretary Eagleburger, EUR Assistant Secretary designate Burt and EUR/NE Deputy Director Pendleton (notetaker).

Shultz

1. Source: Department of State, Executive Secretariat, Secretary Shultz Memoranda of Conversation, Lot 87D327, Secretary Shultz—Memcons September 1982. Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. Sent for information Immediate to Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Drafted by Pendleton; cleared by Burt, Wayne, and Johnston; approved by Shultz.
2. See Document 397.
3. Presumably the report that Pérez de Cuéllar submitted to the Security Council on June 2 in response to Resolution 502. See Yearbook of the United Nations, 1982, p. 1335.