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Thatcher in secret meeting with Gorby "The reunification of Germany is not in the interests of Britain and Western Europe."..."We do not want a united Germany."
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6829416.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2
A conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher(September 23 1989 : transcript) Thatcher: I wanted to raise some questions regarding the situation in the countries of Eastern Europe. I was deeply impressed by the courage of General Jaruzelski in Poland and by his patriotism. Of course, the future of Poland and its alliance with you are very important. I noticed that you reacted calmly to the results of the Polish elections and generally to processes taking part in this and other Eastern European countries. My understanding of your position is following: you welcome each country developing in its own way on the condition that Warsaw Pact stays. I understand this position perfectly. Now I would like to say something in complete confidence and would ask you not to record this part of our conversation. Gorbachev: I agree to your request. (The following part of the conversation is reproduced from memory) Thatcher: We are very concerned about the processes taking place in Eastern Germany. Some big changes could happen there, forced partly by the state of the society and partly by the illness of Erich Honecker. One example of this is the flight of thousands of people from the GDR to the FRG. All of this is on the surface, it is very important but even more important is something else. The reunification of Germany is not in the interests of Britain and Western Europe. It might look different from public pronouncements, in official communiqué at Nato meetings, but it is not worth paying ones attention to it. We do not want a united Germany. This would have led to a change to post-war borders and we can not allow that because such development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security.
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