QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. ARTHUR GAVSHON, DIPLOMATIC EDITOR,
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1. In the aftermath of the American withdrawal from Indochina
there have been expressions of doubt about the credibility of
US security commitments. How do you foresee Australia's defence
requirements and the continued validity of the ANZUS and SEATO
treaty arrangements?
ANSWER: There has never been any question in Australia
of the validity of ANZUS. It is more than
years since it was signed and the friendship and
co-operation which underlie it had their origins
in World War Two. SEATO is a different matter,
it has very little political relevance or military
relevance. Australia's long term defence requirements
are based on an expert stragetic assessment which
is constantly under review. There is no likelihood
of any external threat to Australia's own security
in the foreseeable future. The Stability of the
region is more difficult to predict but on the
whole I am optomistic.
2. There has been some emphasis within the United States on
the need for American military aid to go primarily to those allied
nations which help themselves. In your view does Australia now
qualify completely with that requirement? And do you see any
merit in the suggestions of some authorities that Australia should
perhaps enter the nuclear weapons league by building tactical
weapons for the defence of your continent?
ANSWER: Australia has never received American military aid,
though, of course, we have been war time allies. The Australian
Government is resolutely opposed to the production of her
nuclear weapons and indeed, to the production or testing in any
environment of neclear weapons by any other country. We have
ratified the NPT and have constantly urged others to do likewise.
As I have pointed out this week it is regretable that only
17 of the 34 Commonwealth countries have ratified the NPT.
3. Your government has been portrayed as favouring a
" zone of peace" in the Indian Ocean but opposing a " nuclear-free
zone" in the Pacific. If this is a fair portrayal how do you
reconcile the seeming contradiction?
ANSWER: Certainly we have supported the Sri Lanka proposal
for a free zone in the Indian Ocean. The idea of
a nuclear free zone in the Pacific, while unexceptionable
in principle would be exceedingly difficult to implement.
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The Pacific covers a vast area and the number
of states, within it, or on its borders is very
large. At least one nation is still using it
for nuclear experiments. I might say, however
that Australia has vigorously opposed French
nuclear testing in the Pacific. I am happy that
France has now apparently decided to cease
atmospheric tests.
4. Soon you will be visiting President Ford and Secretary of
State Kissinger in Washington. How in this period of reappraisal
in the United States do you envisage the development of
Canberra-Washington relations?
ANSWER: I look forward to a period of much closer co-operation
and understanding. The American nation has just
come through one of its darkest and traumatic
experiences since the Civil War. The lifting
of that shadow will surely bring America closer
in spirt to her allies in the region.
Do you agree the balance of pwer in Asia now appears tilted
toward the Communist countries? As you see it are the Soviets
or the Chinese People's Republic the main beneficiaries?
ANSWER: After three decades of war I think the main
beneficiaries will be the Vietnamese people.
I don't think it is realistic to talk in simple
terms about the balance of power in Asia.
This is not a confrontation between China and
the Soviet Union, anymore than it was a confrontation
between world communism and western democracy.
It is largely because we saw the conflict in those
terms that the war raged so long at such terrible
cost.
6. Is Australia ready for trade and friendship with the four
regimes of Indochina as it has shown itself to be with the CPR?
And is your government ready to co-operate with those regimes in
the reconstruction of their war-damaged lands?
ANSWER: Certainly. We have made that clear since the signing
of the Paris agreement. As a belligerent nation
in South Vietnam, though admittedly under a previous
administration, Australia has a special obligation
to contribute to the task of reconstruction.
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7. Some of the nations of. South East Asia and the Pacific
are moving toward the extension of their zone of " peace, freedom
and neutrality" by hopefully bringing the Indochinese peoples
and Burma into it. Would Australia offer its political support
for such a project.
ANSWER: I think so. The details of this proposal are
still uncertain. But in general we are in
favour of such movements.
8. Do you anticipate the early reunion of North and South
Vietnam? And do you share the view of many authorities who
expect the Indochinese states, under Vietnamese leadership, to
concentrate on reconstruction rather than to expand their
influence and power?
ANSWER: Reunion would, we hope be a logical process.
How long it takes would depend on the governments
concerned. I would certainly expect the
Indochinese states to concentrate on reconstruction.
For the moment they have very little choice.