PM Transcripts

FOR PRESS: P. Mlv. No. 46/ 1969
REDUCTION IN U. S. FORCES IN VIETNAM
Statement by the_ Prime Minister, Mr. John Gorton C j
It is necessary to draw a distinction between Ameni LIB
force reductions made possible by an increase in size and fighting
capacity of the South Vietnamese forces, and force reductions by both
sides as a result of agreement with the North Vietnamese. We are now
dealing only with the first of these.
The United States decision to withdraw twenty-five
thousand of the half million men they have in Vietnam was foreshadowed
as a possibility in my report to the House of Representatives on 15 May
this year. I then pointed out that if this happened it should be
interpreted as a sign of strength because it would mean that the South
Vietnamese had so strengthened their own forces that they could remove
from the United States some of the heavy burden which that country has
borne. I pointed out also that it would be a tragic mistake for
North Vietnam, or anyone else, to interpret such a move as a prelude
to a general withdrawal or any retreat by the United States from their
determination to persevere until the attainment of the objec~ ive of the
right of self-determination by the people of South Vietnam. I believe
both these observations remain true.
We must continue to hope for a peaceful settlement along
the lines suggested by President Nixon's eight-point plan, and an opportuni
opportunity for the South Vietnamese people freely to determine the kind
of Government they want.
It may be urged that Australia should at once also reduce
its forces. I believe that would be a wrong thing to do. For one thing
the Americans have greatly increased their forces since our contingent
was committed and for another it would be a shabby thing, the Americans
having built up the South Vietnamese forces to take some of the burden
now borne by half a million Americans, for us to withdraw our own forces
and to that degree impose a further burden or at least to that degree
prevent a lessening of the burden borne by the United States.
CANBERRA 9 June 1969