TO AVOID BLOCS IN EUROPE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21967, 16 December 1936, Page 11

TO AVOID BLOCS IN EUROPE

THE AIM OF BRITISH POLICY

APPEAL 1011 ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION

MR EDEN ATTACKS SPENDING ON ARMAMENTS

(BRITISH OmciAL WIRELESS.) (Received December 15, 5.5 p.m.) RUGBY, December 14. Important aspects of British foreign policy were outlined by the Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) at Bradford, in a speech in which he appealed for a comprehensive settlement. Rejecting the dangerous doctrine which would divert the world into the support of jdictatorships of the right and left, Mr Eden declared emphatically that Britain would not align its foreign policy with any group of states because they supported the one or the other. The British text for co-operation in foreign'affairs was not a country's form of government, but its willingness to keep peace with its neighbours and to observe its obligations. Mr Eden welcomed the declaration by the French Foreign Minister (M. Yvon Delbos) that all the forces of France would spontaneously and immediately be used for the defence of Britain and Belgium in the event of unprovoked aggression. He vigorously denied that this declaration represented a new departure or concealed any hidden intention to form any exclusive alliance or promote a policy of blocs. Far from seeking an exclusive arrangement, the British and French Governments desired the co-operation of Germany, not only in a Western agreement, but in European affairs generally. "So far from wishing to encircle Germany, we seek her co-operation with other nations in economic and financial, as well as political spheres," he added. "We want I neither blocs nor barriers in [ Europe." Area of British Interests There were in the world certain vital British interests, and it was a contribution to peace that they should be clearly known. He had nothing to add to or subtract from the Leamington definition. "Yet, if I were to say that Britain's interests in peace are geographically limited, I should be giving false impressions," said Mr Eden. "If our vital interests are situated in certain clearly definable areas, our interest in peace is worldwide, and there is a simple reason for this. The world has now become so small, and every day with the march of science, it becomes smaller. A spark in some sphere comparatively remote from our own interests may become a conflagration sweeping a continent or hemisphere. We must, therefore, be watchful at all times and in all places. "We cannot disinterest ourselves from this or that part of the world in the vague hope that happenings in that area will not affect us. We must neither mislead others nor be J misled ourselves by any of those I comfortable doctrines which declare ; that we can live secure in Western Europe in a glass house. It is for this reason that I have again and again insisted that the foreign policy of our country, with its many and comprehensive interests, must work for a comprehensive settlement. Nothing short of that will give us the peace and confidence we so ardently desire." Economic Progress Too large a part of the world's wealth was being spent on armaments, said Mr Eden. If the world meant to persist in rearming it was persisting in its own impoverishment. It was not wholly convincing to hear complaints of poverty from countries which were spending vast sums on rearmament and straining and twisting their national economies to that end. The world, Mr Eden declared, would act wisely were it to turn from armaments competition to economic co-operation. "That is the change which we wish to see and to which we are prepared to contribute our share," continued Mr Eden. "We showed by the part we played in the recent three-power monetary agreement the basis upon which we thought progress was possible. We are anxious to see those lines followed up and to see international conditions created in which economically all nations can have greater opportunities and can hope to raise their standard of life. "If a lasting settlement of world difficulties could be reached, including—and this is indispensable—an arms agreement, our help would willingly and, indeed, wholeheartedly, be given. But—and this is fundamental—this country cannot be expected to give help to others either in the economic or in the financial sphere if the only result of suck action is to be a further piling up of armaments and consequent further stress and strain upon the fabric of world peace," he added.