COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
SPEECH BY
The Rt Hon. J. G. GORTON, M. P.
ON
VIETNAM: STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT OF
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Ministerial Statement
[ From the ' Parliamentary Debates', 2 April 1968]
Mr GORTON ( Higgins-Prime Minister)
-by leave-Yesterday at noon, Australian
eastern time, the President of the United
States announced-decisions lately taken concerning
the war in Vietnam. Those decisions
were, firstly, to build up the South Vietnamese
armed forces to a planned target of
800,000 men-an increase of 135,000-and
to re-equip those augmented forces with
more modern equipment from the United
States; secondly, to maintain the United
States forces at the level of approximately
525,000 men, which is the level of the
United States forces in South Vietnam now,
and to dispatch some ancillary troops to
service troops which ' had recently been flown
to South Vietnam; thirdly, to renew a resolve
to continue the military struggle in South
Vietnam until such time as a just and lasting
peace could be worked out in that country;
and, fourthly, to cease or halt aerial and
naval bombardment over a major part of
North Vietnam in the hope that such cessation
might lead to the beginning of talks
designed to secure such a just peace. I made
a public statement on that matter, but I feel
that I should repeat it ' here in the House
before expanding upon it. The statement that
I made is as follows:
t4886/ 68 The statement-
I am referring, of course, to the statement
made by President Johnson:
re-emphasises two important aspects of the
approach of the United States.
One is that the United States is firmly resolved
to continue the military struggle to the point where
it becomes recognised that talks designed to secure
a just and lasting peace must take place.
The other is that the United States is prepared
now, as it has been prepared in the past, to enter
into such talks at once, and is prepared to make
concessions in an effort to bring about such talks.
The ' Australian Government has repeatedly indicated
that it would support peace negotiations
provided they held promise of leading to a
just and lasting peace which effectively safeguards
the security and freedom of choice of the people
of South Vietnam.
The Australian Government regards this initiative
by the American President as a further and
significant exhibition of willingness on the part of
the United States of America to engage in talks
aimed at that end. The halting of bombing over
most of North Vietnam, without insistence on an
indication from Hanoi of a willingness to negotiate
or of a reciprocal cessation of military build-up
by North Vietnam. will test the willingness of
Hanoi to enter into discussions aimed at a peaceful
settlement of a genuine kind. We must all bope
that this response by Hanoi is forthcoming quickly.
At the same time, the continuation of bombing
in the area to the north of the battlefields will
continue to hamper the flow of troops and war
material from north to south and will not leave
allied troops at too great a military disadvantage.
I now propose to expand somewhat Upon
that statement of the Government's attitude.
The decision by the President to halt
the bombing of the larger part of North
Vietnam-a part where 90% of the population
lives and works--naturally has
attracted world attention. I say ' naturally'
because of the recent suggestions made in
many quarters, and supported, I understand,
by U Thant, that if the United States halted
its bombing of controlled and selected targets
in that area, the North Vietnamese
would be prepared to enter into discussions
aimed at securing a just, lasting and genuine
peace for the South Vietnamese. I say
, naturally' also because against that background
this gesture by the United States,
giving up as it does a military advantage,
is the most significant and generous gesture
yet made in the hope of starting such
negotiations. It is, Mr Speaker, an extension of the
offer made by the President of the United
States at San Antonio last September when
he publicly offered to halt* the bombing
of North Vietnam as soon as the North
Vietnamese had indicated that such a halt
would lead promptly to productive discussions.
That offer was rejected by Hanoi.
Now, the President has gone the second
mile. Instead of saying: ' Give us an indication
that you will begin peace talks and
we will then halt bombing', the President
is saying: ' We will now halt the bombing
and ask you in return to respond by beginning
negotiations'. This will provide, I
think, an acid test of whether Hanoi has
any genuine wish to enter into peaceful
negotiations or not. We -all hope they will
and that Britain and the Soviet Union, to
whom my Government has sent messages
supporting President Johnson's appeal, will
use their best efforts to see that they do.
At the same time it is important to realise
that not all bombing has been halted. In
those areas contiguous to the battlefields in
North and South Vietnam, those areas
where North Vietnamese troops and munitions
of war gather and flow towards the
south, the continuation of bombardment to
hamper, -hinder and reduce this flow will
continue. Reinforcement of men and supplies
will not be stopped by this. But if even
a ouarter of the troops destined for the South are disabled, if even a quarter
of the mortar bombs, missiles and
artillery shells are destroyed before they
can wreak their destruction in the South, if
the time taken to transport supplies is
doubled, then great assistance will have
been given to Allied troops in the South and
casualties among Allied troops which otherwise
would have been incurred will not be
incurred. That is why the President said:
I cannot in conscience stop all bombing
so long as to do so would immediately and
directly endanger the lives of our men and ouallies.
I imagine there would be few Australians
who would not agree with him. We for our
part have consistently made it clear that we
believe that there is a military advantage in
the bombing of controlled and selected targets
of military significance in North Vietnam.
We have as consistently made it clear
that we supported the concept of -halting
such bombing when the North Vietnamese
were prepared to enter into peace talks, subject
to the military build-up in -the South
by the North Vietnamese not continuing
because of the bombing halt. These latest
proposals which continue to offer protection
and support to Allied troops in the
northern battlefields but which deliberately
forgo the military advantage of more widespread
bombing in the hope of securing the
beginning of peace talks, also have our
support and we hope they will be successful,
for we in Australia seek, as was stated in
the Governor-General's Speech at the beginnipg
of this Parliament:
neither the destruction of North Vietnam,
nor the overthrow of the Government of North
Vietnam but merely the cessation of aggression
against the people of South Vietnam so that those
people may, by the exercise of a franchise they
have shown they know how to exercise even under
the most difficult and dangerous circumstances,
choose their own form of Government. We seek
a just and lasting peace based on these objectives.
We have supported and will support every effort
for negotiation of such a peace.
This latest initiative is an effort to begin
such negotiations for such a peace. We
hope, and I think all Australians hope, that
this objective will be attained. It is now
for Hanoi to respond and to show whether
this peace initiative will or will not be
rebuffed, whether this significant concession
will or will not be ignored, whether the war
will continue at its present tempo or
whether, if progress is made in peace talks.
it may abate. But we should not lose sight
in discussing this phase of the President's
statement of that reiteration in it of a firm
resolve, should peace initiatives of this kind
be rebuffed, to continue the struggle until it
is clear to those who are aggressors that
there will have to be talks which will lead
to a true peace and not to something which
the President described as a fake peace.
We for our part are ready to stand with
our allies, as we have in the war's prosecution.
We are ready to support our allies
as we have in actions designed to seek talks to secure a true peace. It is our hope that
this latest initiative may be accepted and
that those people in South Vietnam may,
through it, gain those rights of self determination
for the preservation of which this
war began and for the restoration and
preservation of which the President's statement
indicates that this war will, if necessary,
be continued, but which, as a result
of the initiative he has . taken, offers a hope
of peace talks attaining this objective without
further loss of life.
BY AUTHORITY: A. J. ARTHUR, COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT PRINTER, CANBERRA, A. C. T.