PACIFIC PACT PROPOSAL

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25812, 25 May 1949, Page 8

PACIFIC PACT PROPOSAL

CO OPERATION OF N.Z. AND AUSTRALIA U.S. INTEREST LIKELY IN FUTURE The United States’ responsibilities in Europe must' limit her undertaking any further obligations in the Pacific, but eventually tne importance of the Pacific must bring America’s attention back to the area, and he felt that in the meantime Australia and New Zealand should work together as closely as possible to lay the foundations for a Pacific pact, said Mr A. R. Cutler, the Australian High Commissioner, to a meeting of patriotic bodies in Christchurch yesterday.

“A Pacific pact without the full supnort of the United States would be a hollow-sounding phrase,” he said. Mr Cutler added that Australia’s view would be that allied Asian countries, such as India and Pakistan should be brought into a Pacific pact, but whether this view was accepted or not, there was no doubt that the United SLates, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand would be essential signatories. There was precedent and ample justification for Commonwealth countries undertaking commitments outside the framework of the Commonwealth. Regional pacts within the Commonwealth were only sound if they were based on a Commonwealth-wide strategy, Mr Cutler said, and Australia and New Zealand had very definite regional responsibilities for Commonwealth defence in this part of the world.