PRESS CONFERENCITH PPRTh1 IN ISTER_ _ SIR
ROB3E'.-T 1' ENZIE. รต , MJSTh. YJIAN EMNBASSYWPA.
SHINGTON~. DXC., U. SSOAQ
CorresuondensPresent : Mr. John Moses, Sydney Morning Herald
Mr. Alan Reid.) S. Tdney Daily Telegraph
Mr,, JoD Ate. ti Melbourne Herald Org.
Mr, David Mtthcw, Australian Associated. Press.
Mr. Bruce GrLani;.-Mlbourne Age
Mr. Jan Moffi-t. News Ltd. of 1-ustralia.
Mr. Henry Keys, ULP. I. Correspondent for
Austr-alian clients.
Q, There has lboon a lot of cJsw3ir n the Administration. in
recent days about ; eqeLi of ~ idtzade with Communist
China. Thtere has a-I. o beon dci.. olpairticularly about
sales by Australi. 9, Canada ,. nd Nco! j Z2ealand to Com-nunist China.
Did -this ccme up in youar talks?
A. No, it wasn't rais -d,
Q, The point of view tlhet ias been expressed here is that this
W ir giv4ng id and ccio'; to a potential enemy which Wishington
is positive may ona coay go ' to war-r in Pacific. Whiat is
your feeling?
You wrant me now i; o miake a S, tement about the ganeral position
in tb-c Pacific., of co,, u'_ se -wo hiavre danger-s in South-. East Asia,
We have been dreadfull ly exoc_, csed ty some of TUhem already.
But thi; s p.-ohlcm n. c. w of rd with t countries and
what ought to be lIi: s o' h c. n'dti~ which you deal
w it h. Idelli, this is a ol~ d one, 1 hiave nothing to i. dd to
it. AsI syit h ist tee vith me here.
Q. Would you characteiise yona2 meoeting w~ itha the President and
oter officials as working sessions o-a means of gettin
personal2ly a oqua-inted wit'-h t l-ii
S A, Oh, much more in t-ha e 5cof( It entegory, Yes,, Oh, I had met the
President Lefore, but cnly just in a muost formal way, and I
wanted to get to know him in an indivi) dual sense-, and that I
think succeeded very well.
Q. It seems to me that the toasts that were exchanged yesterday
at the luncheon, even reading them in the printed form, were
unusually cordial and warm.
A. Yes I think that that is quite true, 7 that wvas the feeling
thai we both. had, Ohn, f-Lom. that point of view it was
extremely useful. Then of course there were other people.
Dean husk, of course, is by way of being a very old friend of
mine now, and when we meet we just conduct a tour of the
relevant portions of -the world and exchange our ideas, and if
he has some more inforT. mation he gives it to me, But itts not a
working session. Each these hias been purely private
conversations. For a start when you are going -to add to the
supply of paper in the Chancer-ies there is always somebody
there writing it down. But tb. ere? s nobody there writing it
down this time, So we h-aven't added to any of the files.
Merely brought ourselves up to date. But that was the main
purpose here, purely personal one,, Then I'm going through to
Thndon too. It's a very good thaing to have some fresh
individual picture of your own of the people here who are
engaged in matters jointly -, vith the Uni-ted Kingdom and ourselves.,
2
Q. Sir, is the U. S. Administration satisfied with what Australia
is doing in South East Asia?
A. I believe so and everything that was said to me suggested that,
and suggested it with a great deal of enthusiasm, I mean it
was unsolicited and they were particularly pleased of course
with what we have been able to do acmittedly not very much
in South Vietnam because very naurally they sometimes feel
that everything is being left to them and these little bits of
assistance showing the flag in a practical way, accepting some
of the risks in common this has had a very big effect. I found
not a hint of complairt, and a good deal of satisfaction.
There was a time not so long ago wilon if you listened to the
unspoken words you could detect criticism about the size of our
own defence effort in Australia. Nothing of that this time
on the contrary, there has been very great satisfaction at
what we have been doing.
Q. Sir when you say that our co.. t. ribution there is not very great,
is there any likelihood cf Jt being increased?
A. Oh, there is no suggestion at present about tlhat No. It has
only recently been stepped up, as you know,
Q, Do you detect any change in th;; Amsrican line on Indonesia,
a slightly firmer line Lhi before? It seemed to me that some
time ago there was a rather ambivalent attitude towards
Soekarno?
Ao I think that that might f:-. r. ly have been said I was alert to
any signs of that, but I cdidi't find t; hem. Mind you, I was
dealing with the people like Mr, Rusk, Mro McNamara and so on,
who have never been singelasrly ambiguous onl this mutter
themselves, But I found i. n them and the President quite a
clear-cut realistic view as to what was going on.
Q. Did you find arything, Sir, to detract from the interpretation
of the ANZUS TMreay applied the Malaysian area?
A. Well, you remember, there having been some argument, I made a
speech in the House on this matter, very carefully, and
explained step by step wh.' t the position was. I enquired
yesterday, I knew that they had had the full text of it and
I just confirmed what I had previously been told by saying
to them " May I take it that what I said received the complete
agreement of your people", and th-io answer ' aJ " Yes." They
regard that statement as accurate, and I suppose, in a sense,
definitive. There it is. ( I was delighted to find that a
tape recording typed back admits of errors even here in the
city of efficiency, because I see that I am on the record as
having said that Dean Rusk was " persorn gratissimo") ( Laughter)
Q. Sir did you hear of Mr. Mikoyan's statement today in Djakarta
pledging support to Indonesia against Malaysia and suggesting
the possibility of Indonesia obtaining weapons more powerful
than those the British would have in the area?
A. Whose statement?
Q, Mr. Mikoyan's,
Ao No, No, I'm sorry. I have neither seen it nor heard it.
Qo Sir, did the subject of the TFX concern you during your
talks with Secretary McNamara? ./ 3
-3-
A. No. Australia is taking a late delivery of these aircraft now.
It is a year late.
A. Yes. When these aircraft come in, they are always liable to
have adjustments made to them, in the first twelve months
particularly., le could take the first deliveries and make any
adjustments ourselves that we wanted to make in tne light of
experience, or by waiting for twelve months we could have the
benefit of all the adjustment work that was done here the
experience that would take place here, All our experts were
unanimously of the opinion that it was worth the twelve months'
difference in time to get the superior quality in the results
and that was the unanimous view. There was no argument about
it in Australia and I think it has been announced nasn't it,
that that's what we are going to d-o It didnt affect the
timetable otherwise the life of the Canberras and so on all
that was adequately provid.-d for, they thought, even on -he
year's late deliv'e.-y. In subs-ance it was a question of
doing our experimenting, doing our adjustment well. In a small
supply country like our own that's not as satisfactory as
waiting for a year and getting the benefit of everything that
occurs here. So that we'! have a slight delay but greater
efficiency in the results.
Q. Sir, did the questicn of Cyprus corie up at all in conversation
with the President? Heis very much ex3jcised by it at the
moment. I wondered if ha discussed it with you as a Commonwealth
statesman about what was once a Commonwealth problem.
A. No, no, no, I'm glad they didn't. I think that a few arguments
are going on between other parties I know when to keep out
of those a: rguments, If the time comes that the Commonwealth
has to say or do something about it that's a different matter,
But I've kept out of it here,
Q. In the exchange of Toasts, Mr. Prime Minister, there was
mention of the possibility of a Presidential visit to Australia.
Did you extend any specific invitation to the President?
A. Well, I told him that we would be delighted if he could come.
And that if he did come, we: would be delighted to make every
conceivable arrangement. In fact, I said that if the House
were not sitting, I would convene it for the purpose of his
visit, because I think it would be tremendously important.
He can't put a date to it; he genuinely would like to come.
I'm sure that he's contemplating the possibility in 1965, when
he's got throughhi. s present discontent. But nothing like the
fixation of a date, I told him that I thought the best
season of the year to come to Australia on a quick visit was
in our Autumn, or in other words, in the Spring here. But
I wouldn't be holding him to a firm promise to come or any
firm date but I'm sure that he would like to and I regard
it as a strong possibility that he will,
Q. How are you feeling, Sir Robert, if I may ask you? 9 a., o0
A. Well, well, I havon't my normal supply of
nervous energy. I'm flat, but apart from that Itm
improving. I'm limiting my engagements as much as I.
can because because as I said, I wasn't supposed
to come for another ten days. I'm supposed to be
convalescing,
Q. Sir, can you reveal the name of the lovely lady that
was alos mentioned in the toast yesterday?
A. No, I can't. I can't. It's vary curious. I'm pretty
certain I identified her. But perhaps on the sketchy
information that the President gave me, I might have been
wrong, It would be a little embarrassing to quote a name,
and then have somebody rush along ond say, " The first
I've ever heard of it", But; Ill check up on tnis, and if
it turns out to be right, I'll let you know, but I won't
take. the risk of embarrabsing anybody at this rtage. It's
very amusing.