, JbAUSTRALIA L
PRME MVISE
E. O. E. PROOF ONLY
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS CONFERENCE, ORIENTAL HOTEL, 22 NOVEMBER 1983
PM: Ladies and Geritlemen, I will start by going over for
the benefit of the non-Australian contingent an outline
that I gave to them yesterday of the talks that Foreign
Minister, Bill Hayden and I had with the Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister of Thailand and then add some further
comments to that.
In those discussions yesterday I repeated what both Mr. Hayden
and I had said consistently inside our own Parliament and
elsewhere the condemnation by the Australian Government of
Vietnam's invasion and continued occupation of Cambodia.
I added that from our point of view there should be a phased
withdrawal leading to a total withdrawal of Vietnamese troops
from Cambodia. There there should then be an act of
self-determination for and by the Cambodian people and the
creation of the conditions which would permit displaced
Cambodians to return to their country and for normal
relations to be resumed between Vietnam, China, the ASEAN
countries and the international community at large. We
indicated in our discussions yesterday that we attached very
considerable importance to ending Vietnam's present political
and economic isolation and the growing reliance on the Soviet
Union which was, in our judgement, simply entrenching great
power rivalry in the region.
We indicated yesterday to the Prime Minister and the Foreign
Minister that our Government intended offering disaster relief
assistance to Vietnam and you have seen the reference to that,
but that we had taken no decisions in practical terms to resume
development assistance to Vietnam. We have not taken any such
decision. Now, we also pointed out to th Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister that while Australian aid was continuing to be
directed to displaced Cambodians in the Thai/ Cambodia border
area, we also indicated to your leaders that Australia
continued to consider that meeting the humanitarian aid needs
of internees inside Cambodia was also necessary.
One of our main intentions in the discussions was to convey to
the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister our very great
concern Australia's very great concern at the possibility
of any return to power of a regime as brutal as the Khmer
Rouge in Cambodia.
I can say that both General Prem and I agreed that our
discussions had been useful in clarifying the misunderstandings
which had recently arisen. We agreed that both Australia and
Thailand had the same view about the Cambodian situation,
carried disturbing implications for peaceful relations amongst
all the countries of the SE Asian region. And on the main
issues of principle that I have repeated to you-that is the
condemnation of the invasion by Vietnamese forces; the
necessity for-withdrawal of those forces; the creation of
the conditions wherein there can be the free expression of
the will of the Cambodian people; the creation of the conditions
for the return of refugees and displaced persons; and the
emergence of a free and independent, non-aligned Cambodia
on those basic issue of principle, there was a fundamental
agreement between Australia and Thailand and the Prime Minister
and I while noting that there was room for differences of
emphasis and approach in the manner in which each country
sought to give effect to these agreed principles we agreed
and accepted that each country was directing its efforts towards
the achievement of those objectives. And we agreed that we
would continue to work in the closest possible contact and
communications on those matters or mutual interest. So, may
I therefore sum up in respect of that overall coverage which I
had conveyed to the Australian media yesterday, may I sum up
by saying that both Bill Hayden and I could not have been more
satisfied than we were with the talks that took place yesterday.
In addition to those matters in respect of Indo-China generally
we also discussed a number of bilateral matters and those
discussions will lead, we know, to a further strengthening of
the relations between our two countries.
Yesterday afternoon Mr. Hayden signed with your Foreign
Minister a co-financing agreement which is between our two
countries and the handling of the World Bank finance project
within which we will be involved in a managerial capacity.
There had been some suggestion of the difficulty about that.
Those difficulties have been resolved and Mr. Hayden signed
that co-financing agreement yesterday and I also indicated
yesterday that Australia will be joining an association of tin
producing countries a move which had been urged upon us by
your government.
Now, I have in going over those previous matters, indicated to
you our basic position in regard to Cambodia, but I would add
now these observations to what I said to our press yesterday
and what I've outlined to you. I want to emphasise that
Australia recognises the concern of Thailand as a front line
state, its special concerns with the problems in the area to
which I've been referring and it's because Australia recognises
that particular security concern of Thailand that we, as an
Australian Government, have increased our contribution under
the defence co-operation program. That: has been lifted from an
amount of zero some four years ago to an amount of over
$ 4 million now. We will continue to give emphasis to that.
It involves contributions not only' here into Thailand, but
maintaining the availability of a wide range of training
positions for Thai Armed Forces personnel within our training
programs in Australia.
Now, the second point I would make is that Australia has,
through Mr. Hayden and myself referred to our ability to
speak to all the main protagonists in this Indo-China problem. 7-
the ASEAN countries, China, the United States, and Vietnam
itself. But Mr. Hayden, who has had the main carriage of
this, and I have from the beginning made it clear that we
recognise appropriately the modesty of our aspirations in this
regard and we, of course, accept quite straightforwardly, and
it is appropriate to say it here, that the capacity of Thailand
in these matters is potentially greater than our own, but we,
because of the connections and positions we have, will continue
to do what we can.
Now, the final point that I would wish to make in rounding
off the outline of Australia's position is that we have
referred and I did hear again this morning to the dangers
associated with the isolation of Vietnam in its relations with
the Soviet Union. I want to make it quite clear that we
understand that this has been a choice of Vietnam itself.
It made a conscious decision to be dependent upon the Soviets
in this way. We don't say or imply that it has been something
of the making of the ASEAN countries. What we are talking
about and I believe what ASEAN is talking about is trying
to provide some incentives for Vietnam to reduce that dependency.
Ladies and Gentlemen, that was all I would wish to say at this
stage and I would finally make the observation, however,
generally in regard to our visit. I know I speak for Bill
Hayden when I say this, that we want to thank General Prem
and Air Chief Marshall Siddhi for the cordiality of their
welcome, the frankness of the exchanges between us and the way
in which we have both been able to not merely indicate the
Australian position, but I believe as a result of that, to
leave here now with the relations between our two countries
even stronger than they have been in the past.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what sort of incentives do you
have in mind?
PM: Well, the position that all of the ASEAN countries and
ourselves have been directing our attention to is one in which
the forces of Vietnam and the Vietnamese Government could be
satisfied that once they have phased withdrawal leading-to a
total withdrawal, that they woul~ d be satisfied that the
vacuum that was left was not going to be filled by the forces
of the Khmer Rouge as a dominant influence and we believe that
that is what we can work for that there are signs on both
sides if you look at the September statement of the ASEAN
countries and certain responses from Vietnam that there is
some evidence of a loosening up of hitherto uncompromising
attitudes and if we can create that situation then we could
obviously be looking to a position where there would be very
sound reasons for the countries of this area and others to start
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4.
to themselves to have more formal and constructive relations
with Vietnam. It can't be, in our judgement, be seen by
Vietnam itself, or any of the countries of this region, to
be in any of their interests to have this almost total
reliance by Vietnam on the Soviet Union. So, you've got
to move towards the situation where they can see the virtue
in ending that reliance in the way that I've suggested.