,7
NQ DATE
M4/ 36 7 March 1974
PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO SOUTH EAST ASIA
The following is the text of a statement in
the House of Representatives by the Prime Minister,
The Hon. E. G. Whitlam, M4. P., Thursday 7 March 1974:-
Mr Speaker-In this, the first week of the new session of
Parliament, I wish to report to the House and to the Australian
people on my recent visit to South East Asia. I believe that
visit advanced Auistralia's national interests in a region of
c ontinuing and increasing importance to this country.
No one in this House would deny that Australia and the
countries of South East Asia share profolind and lasting common
interests. No one in this House would deny that the maintenance
of close relationships with these countries is one of several
important challenges facing Austra~ lian foreign policy. The
confluence of our history and geography our mainly European
origins and our location on the edge. of South East Asia
affords us a unique opportunity to demonstrate that countries
with different cultural, ethnic, social and religious backgrounds
can evolve intimate and lasting relationships. The Government
is determined to seize that opportunity and to ensure that
Australia is accepted as a good neighbour and a co-operative
and helpful. member of the Asian and Pacific region.
I visited lialaysia from 28 to 31 January, Thailand from
31 January to 4 February, Laos on 4 February, Burma from
4 to 6 February, Singapore from 6 to 9 February and the
Philippines from 10 to 13 February. I also paid a brief visit
to the Malaysian Air Force Base at Butterworth where our Mirage
squadrons are stationed and a brief private visit to
Kota Kinabalu at the invitation of an old friend, the former
Malaysian High Commissioner to Australia and Dean of the
Diplomatic Corps and present Governor of Sabah, Tan Sri Stephens.
-1
I have now visited, in the 15 months since the
Government came into office, virtually all the major countries
in the Asian and Pacific region. No former Prime Minister has
done more. Visits by the Prime Minister and other ministers
symbolise the importance that the Australian Government attaches
to the countries visited. But there is more to it than that;
the results which will flow from my visit will, I believe,
advance our interests and involvement in this region to a new
level. I had four main objectives in undertaking this visit,
I believe I succeeded in fulfilling them.
My first and perhaps my principal objective was to
emphasise to leaders in South East Asia the continuing and
undiminished importance which my Government attaches to its
relations with the countries of South East Asia. I wanted to
explain to them that wha~ t had changed was not the degree of
Australian involvement in the region but the nature and
direction of that involvement. I wanted to make clear that
our emphasis had shifted from an involvement based mainly on
ideological considerations and military alliances to one based
c _, snore enduring ties such as trade, aid programs, regional
co-operation, ecornomic co-operation, and the development of a
network of cultural contacts and agreements.
My second objective was to establish or reinforce
personal contacts with South East Asian Heads of Government.
I was able to have very frank and detail ed talks with them,
My third objective was to outline to Government leaders
in the region the positive character of the Australian
Government's foreign policy and to dispel any misunderstandings
about it. My fourth objective was to seek practical and enduring
ways in which co-operation between Australia and the countries
of the region can be strengthened.
In all the countries I visited Australia has, and always
will have, an important influence. While our foreign policy
interests have been diversified and our horizons are now wider
than the United States, the United Kingdom and South East Asiavie
no longer ignore, for example, the existence of Communist
Asia, including China with its 800,000,000 people the fact
remains that it is in our own immediate neighbourhood that we
are most likely to find an effective role for Australia. I
found that the new friendships which we have developed with
countries like China and North Viet-Nlam have in no way diminished
our traditional friendships with the countries I visited. If
anything, they have enhanced our standing in them and increased
their interest in us.
Foreign policy cannot be created in a vacuum. It must
grow out of national aspirations and patterns of events in our
environment. We need to take account of the evolving Great
Power relaticnships. In the sixties the main thrust of
United States policy in this area was the containment of China
by military involvement in Viet-Nam. But the United States has
itself opened up new opportunities by abandoning these policies;
itv no longer looks to Australia to provide a mere supporting
echo of policies which it has itself progressively abandoned.
As Dr Kissing-er, the most realistic and pragmatic
necotiator to fill the office of Secretary of State, has shown,
initiatives in foreign affairs open up new possibilities for
progress and understanding. Such initiatives will not always
produce predictable or entirely desirable results, but log-jams
are broken, stale habits of mind are abandoned, and movement is
often pre ferable to a dogged perseverance with an outmoded
status quo. Like most of the leaders I met, I believe that detente
between the Great Powers must be made to work. The journey down
this road has begun. It wil~ l not be smooth. Peace and security
do not come simply because we wish them to come. But diplomacy
must be based on realistic hopes rather than on resignation and
despair. It was in this spirit that I went to South East Asia.
And it was this spirit which evoked such a warm response. I
recall, in particular, the remarks by the Prime Minister of
Singapore at a dinner he gave for my delegation. I shall seek
leave to table the text of that speech, and all other p~ incipal
speeches during my visit, later this evening.
TRADE AND ECONOMIC LINKS
I turn now to trade. I believe that increasingly our
foreign policy in South East Asia will be related to our efforts
to develop mutually advantageous trade. In each country I
visited I expected, and found, keen interest in closer trading
and economic links with Australia.
Australia has long established and valued trading ties
with all the countries I visited0 Last year we had a favourable
trade balance of $ 225 million with these countries and we
expect this favourable balance to increase in the short term.
Our exports last year to these countries totalled $ 318 million,
of which over 40% were manufacturers; our imports from them
were $ 93 million. It can be seen that this situation, while
advantageous to us now, could generate friction if neglected.
So in each country I made a point of explaining the 25% tariff
cut made by the Government in July last year and the greatly
expanded scheme of tariff preferences for developing countries
which came into force on 1 January. I told them of the special
s ervice which has been established in the Department of Overseas
Trade to help developing countries in market research and
-om-inercial contacts. I arranged for experts from Australia.
to visit all the countries on my itinerary, as well as Indorñ-sit,
in March and April. This will ensure that new preferences and
trading opportunities are understood and that the countries
concerned can take full advantage of them. These experts will
also visit a number of other developing countries later in the
year. I elaborated on the statement on Australian investment
policy which the Government issued on 22 January** I emphasised
that, for the first time, an Australian Government had adopted.
a co-operative and creative role in encouraging Australian
investment overseas, particularly in South East Asia. I made
it clear that such investment must accord with the social and
economic objectives of the host country and be consistent with
progressive labour relations and local environmental policies.
I was also able to point to the expansion of the EPIC
investment insurance facilities and the creation of two
separate funds, one of $ 250,000 a year and one of $ 100,000
a year, to promote respectively, investment feasibility studies
overseas by. Australian manufacturers and investment awareness
wi* thin Australia. All these policies and initiatives were warmly welcomed.
I believe the ground is now laid for increased Australian
investment in South East Asia. The obvious link between trade
and investment and the general acceptance of Australia as a
source of investment was widely recognised.
We have reached understandings that our trade agreements
with Malaysia and the Philippines will be updated and that new
Trade Agreements with Thailand and Laos will be negotiated0
A feature of such agreements will be the establishment of mixed
commissions of Australian businessmen and officialsp who will
meet their counterparts -in the other countries on a regular
basis to examine the practical problems of two-way trade and to
seek their prompt resolution.
I also took the opportunity to stress the desirability,
wherever practicable, of securing access to markets over a
long term for the products of Australia's rural industries.
Since my visit, the parties directly concerned have met to
explore the possibility of long term contracts for the export
~ fsubstantially increased quantities of wheat and sugar to
Malaysia. An inquiry for 500,000 tons of coal from Thailand
is under consideraticn and export approval has been given by
the Australian Government for 1509000 tons of coal to Burma.
A number of countries I visited inquired about products essential
to their economic development, including nitrogenous fertilisers,
steel and engineering products. These are being dealt with as
a matter of urgency. An Australian investment of over $ 4 million
in the forging industry in the Philippines was approved within a
few days of my raising this question with President Marcos. In
Thailand our offer tc assist with the establishment and training
of their Trade Cominissicner Service . was accepted and the initial
moves are already under way. We are also examining, as a matter
of urgency, requests received during my visit for extensions to
our scheme of tariff preference for developing countries.
All of this provides a practical illustration of our
present objective of securing a thriving and well-rounded
6.
commercial relationship with the countries of South East As ia.
The* Government's decision last October to respond positively
and constructively to interest in the ASEAN countries in
Australian co-operation with agreed ASEAN projects was also
well received in the ASEAN capitals I visited. In fact, all
our policies and initiatives in trade were accepted as evidence
of our strong continuing involvement in South East Asia and
our willingness to assist our Asian neighbours in genuinely
constructive ways.
DEFENCE During my visit I stressed on a number of occasions
that although the emphasis of our policy is-changing we still
retain important defence interests in South East Asia.
We no longer look on the countries of South East Asia as
buffer states or as some northern military line where a possible
future enemy should be held. Rather, we look upon them as
countries having a conmon Interest with Australia and New Zealand
in consolidating the security and stability of the region as a
whole. I made it clear to representatives of the L~ ao Patriotic
Forces in Vientiane that Australia was concerned that all foreign
countries withdraw their forces from L~ aos. I also expressed the
hope that the Great Powers would cease supplying arms to North
and South Viet-Nam. I said so i~ n the firm belief, which I have
expressed before, that the dpportunities which were lost after
the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954 should not be lost
again. The pr6spects for reconciliation and for the-formation
of genuinely national governments in the countries of Indo-China
would be greatly enhanced if external interference of all kinds
could cease. We have pledged that the terms of the Five Power
Arrangements will be honQured in full until a more enduring
settlement is reached in establ~ ishing the peace, freedom and
neutrality of the region. Our defence co-operation programs with
countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia will be
maintained. I also indicated that Australia's Mirage squadrons
would remain at Butterworth as long as they are relevant to
7,
the needs of both our nations and the realities of the region
and that, as previously announced, this question would be
reviewed, as appropriate by the two Governments.
It has been suggested that because I believe our
interest in this region have in the past been seen-excessively
in terms of Defence, Australia is in some way drifting towards
isolationism. I repeat categorically what I said several time s
in South East Asia: Isolationism is not a policy option for
Australia. It is precisely because I thought that we were
isolating ourselves from a quarter of the world's population in
China, and to some extent, from Black Africa and Europe east of
the Elbe, that I have stressed since December 1972, the
Government's wish to diversify its foreign policy interests.
In fact, in both action and philosophy, I believe that my
Government is the most genuinely internationalist government
Australia has had.
RACE, CUTUTRE AITD . IMIGRAT ION
The Government's attempts to rid Australia of any
lingering racist image are very warmly welcomed in South East
Asia. They are especially welcomed in Singapore and the
Prillippines. Race is a transcending international and moral issue.
I am not prepared to allow the bridges that have been built to
the countries of Asia, and which are currently being widened and
strengthened by the Government's policies, to be undermined by
stigma of racism. The Minister for Immigration and his Department
are working -to ensure that there are no gaps between our
enunciated principles and our administrative practices. As I
said in Manila, we want no double standards in this matter.
I was particularly concerned in Manila to explain to
President Marcos the Government's uncompromising opposition to
racism in all its forms and to assure him that our immigration
policy is non-discriminatory. I was able to announce that the
Government had given its agreement in principle to the entry of
Philippine skilled workers for the L~ eyland Factory in Sydney.
A team is to go to Manila next week to help select the
immigrants who will come to Australia. U,
.1 .7. XZU-. iZ.. 4~ z. L L. flL.. C.. L4A..-J
8.
The Government's wish to negotiate cultural agreements with
M~ alaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines evoked a warm
response. As a result of my visit we have undertaken to double the
number of cultural agreements we now have. We already have such an
agreement with Indonesia. The new agreements will mean that we
shall have cultural agreements with all members of ASEAN. This is
a manifestation of the importance the Government attaches to
promoting a distinctively Australian culture and excellence in
the arts generally. It acknowledges that we have much to gain
from the rich and ancient cultures of our Asian neighbours.
CONTACTS WITH YOUTH
During my visit I sought, with members of my party, to
establish contacts with student and youth leaders. I visited the
University of Singapore, Nanyang University and the University of
the Philippines, at which I delivered a major speech. In Thailand
a senior Foreign Affairs official accompanying me and two members
of jny personal staff spent fLive hours in discussions with Thai
student leaders, These contacts, unprecedented in a visit of this
kind, were of value to both sides.
DISCUSSIONS The discussions I had were, of course, confidential and
lasted many hours, It would be impossible to summnarise them all
in detail. The roles of the great Powers The United States,
the Soviet Union, China and Japan in the Asian region were
discussed in each capital. I discussed my own visits to China and
Japan and economic problems in the region, including the effect of
the oil shortage and the energy crisis.
I discussed the situation in Indo-China and general questions
of security and stability in South East Asia. I found these
discussions in total educative, valuable and of great interest.
In Mvalaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines there was an
acknowledgement that the normalisation cf relations between China
and the countries of South East Asia is inevitable. Burma and Laos
already have diplomatic relations with China. In the other countries
the issue is not one of principle but of timing.
9.
Another common theme was regional co-operation. The
ASEAN countries naturally attach priority to the consolidation of
ASEAN, an organisation which Australia does not seek to join but
which has our wholehearted support. I was encouraged, however, to
find a widespread interest in the idea of a future wider regional
association in which the countries of Asia and the Pacific could
meet at a high level for informal discussions, much in the manner
in which Commonwealth Heads of Government meet. The Philippines,
in particular, fully agrees with this concept and President Marcos
has advanced almost identical proposals.
STUDENTS I had the opportunity during the visit to discuss with a
number of countries in the region their concern over students.
The countries I visited in particular Malaysia, Thailand and
Singapore continue to place importance on the opportunities
for their studernts to study JIn Australia. The sponsored student
programs, that is, the Colombo Plan and other official programs
in the main run smoothly and successfully. There are no
difficulties in this area. There have been some difficulties,
hi_,-ever, with private students in Thailand over the English test,
whichn is a pre-requisite to entry for study, and the level of entry
for their students. I have agreed to look into these problems and
the Departments concerned are at present conducting a review of
policy with a view to resolving them. The Ministers for Education
and Immigration have also had discussions with the Thai authorities
on this matter.,
In Singapore there were discussions on the return of private
students and the so-called brain drain. Under our non-discriminatory
immigration policy, private students enter Australia on the
understanding that they will return home. However, if they can
meet migration criteria they are allowed to remain in Australia.
The Singapore Government was perturbed about this and have now
decided to sponsor officially all private students coming to
Australia. Sponsored students have always been required to return
to their home country on completion of their studies and this has
been at the express insistence of their home governments.
I want to make it clear that if any student from Singapore is to
be sent home, it will be as the result off his sponsorship by the
Singapore Government and not as the result of a decision taken on
its own account by the Australian Government. Mr Lee also raised
the question of students already in Australia and I have agreed to
look into this.
AID I did not see my visit as an occasion for new aid commitments.
I believe that visits by the Prime Minister and Ministers to
neighbouring South East Asian countries should be seen as part of
a regular pattern of visits and not necessarily as occasions for
important new aid agreements.
Naturally, however, bilateral aid programs were discussed in
each capital. In Kuala Lumpur I undertook to study Malaysian
requests for assistance in preparing a feas6ibility study on the
development of the Trengganu River Basin and on the development
of the proposed Kuantan industrial area. In Vientiane I undertook
* that the Government would consider assisting that city in its
proposed expansion of its city water supply. I stressed to the
Prime Minister of Laos and the leaders of the Lao Patriotic Forces
that Australia would do all it could to help in the postwar
* rehabilitation of Laos. In Bangkok I announced that Australia
* would support the Pioneer Medical Volunteers Program of the
Princess Mother. We will provide ambulances and radio transceivers
fo r the pilot project. In the Philippines I was glad to announce
that the Australian Government had agreed to enter a joint aid
project with the Philippines Government for the construction of
roads and related irrigation and agricultural development in
Zamboanga Del Suir. This is a large project which will cost the
Australian Government approximately S2 million a year for each of
the next five years.
I take this opportunity of informing the House that the
Australian Government has decided to contribute $ 18,150,000 to the
Asian Development Fund. This decision, following as it does on
our decision to join the Ministerial Conference for the Economic
Development of South East Asia and the South East Asian Ministers cof
Education Organisation, and our decision to help finance a greed ASE.---
projects, is a further manifestation of the Government's growing
interest in the well-being of the South East Asian region.
S-a -2rlxAw a. it 11.
I mentioned during my visit the possibility of sending
Australian staff and other forms of assistance to Asian educational I
institutions. This would ease the demand for places in Australian
universities. I expect it to become a more significant part of oix-r
aid programs. It would not, however, mean that we would be
unwilling to continue to assist in training the students and
officials who come to us under the Colombo Plan and other aid
schemes. The presence of overseas students in our educational
institutions and in our whole society is a valuable means of
furthering understanding between Australia and Asia. This view
was also put to me by the Prime Minister of Singapore and the
Prime Minister of Thailand.
I believe that during my visit I was able to affirm
Australia's genuine, continuing and growing interest in South East
Asia. I was gratified that the leaders with whom I spoke and their
statements were reflected in the press of the countries I visited
saw fit to praise Australia and the Government's policies in terms
that went beyond the normal requirements of courtesy to a visiting
Head of Government. I believe Australia walks taller and stands in
higher regard in South East Asia than ever before. Our policies
are understood. Our continuing and growing interest in the regio"
is accepted and appreciated. As one leading South East Asian
statesman said to me, our present policies are " approved and
applauded". I believe we are rightly regarded in South East Asia
as a genuine and trusted friend.
( I seek leave to table the six main speeches I made during
the visit and the main speeches made by the six heads of Government
of the countries visited).'