Government Policy On International Affairs

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28474, 2 January 1958, Page 6

Government Policy On International Affairs

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 1. Regional pacts were unlikely in the long run to prove an adequate substitute for a universal system of collective security, accompanied by a comprehensive disarmament scheme, said the Prime Minister (Mr Nash) today in a statement of Government policy on international affairs.

Mr Nash, who is also Minister of External Affairs, appealed for greater mutual trust among the major Powers and a more posi- • tive approach to disarmament. Under seven headings the Prime Minister listed “some of the main actions the New Zealand Government will seek to take and the . policies it will follow in the inter- ! national field during the coining year.” They are: (1) It will seek to expand and diversify trade, with old and new customers, paying special attention to such developments as the European common market and free trade area and the new markets in Asia and Africa. (2) It will continue assistance to the less developed countries, especially in Asia, principally through the Colombo Plan. (3) Where necessary it will establish new diplomatic and trade missions abroad. (4) It will continue to give full support to the United Nations. Paying special attention to the question of disarmament (including the cessation of nuclear weapons tests) and to economic questions. New Zealand will seek election to the Economic and Social Council at the next session of the Assembly. Treaty Obligations (5) New Zealand will fully honour its treaty obligations under A.N.Z.U.S. and 5.E.A.T.0., and its defence commitments as in Malaya. (6) New Zealand will seek to strengthen the British Commonwealth as a free, multi-racial society of nations united in their desire for peace, their love of freedom, and their respect for law. It will wfelcome the visits early this year of Her Majesty the Queen Mother and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (7) At all times New Zealand will oppose tyranny, injustice, and the denial of human rights to persons of any race, wherever these may appear; will support policies designed to promote economic development. full employment and social welfare; will work for a reduction of the burden of armaments and the diversion of military expenditure to more constructive ends; and will, above all, seek to lay firm foundations for a lasting peace, based on universal respect for law. “In Europe and North America there has been much debate about the best means of meeting the challenge of recent achievements of Soviet science which have important military applications,” said Mr Nash. “Agreement has been reached on steps designed to strengthen the military capacity of N.A.T.0., but there is an influential sector of opinion which believes that the solution of the major problems confronting Europe—the chief of them being the continued division of Germany—must be found in diplomacy rather than in a confrontation of military might. Regional Pacts “Regional pacts have an important role to play in maintaining the stability and. integrity of their members against dictatorship pressure, both external and

internal. Eut their benefits are limited by the number of members. Certain important and influential countries, especially in Asia, are opposed in principle to such pacts. “It is certainly true that neither alliances nor military strength are in themselves, a panacea for the world’s ills. They are unlikely in the long run to prove an adequate substitute for a universal system of collective security, accompanied by a comprehensive disarmament agreement. The United Nations Charter is the basis for such a system of collective security, and the appropriate organs of the United Nations provide a forum for the negotiation of an agreement on disarmament. “The obstacles which have so far prevented the achievement of either objective are well known: they should not provoke despair but inspire renewed and more determined effort. “Meanwhile, we must meet and deal with as best we can the dangers that arise from political and economic instability in an armed and hostile world,” said Mr Nash. “Such instability is evident at the present time in Indonesia. The disturbed situation there is causing great anxiety. At the very least what is happening in Java seems bound to result in a serious setback to the efforts of this young country to achieve political unity and develop its economic resources for the benefit of all its people.

“We have a situation where all desire peace, but where the statements and actions of leaders of the great Powers tend to destroy the potential for peace by creating a vicious circle of mistrust,” said Mr Nash.

“Cannot the smaller nations—some of whose representatives have much experience and skill—do something to break this deadlock: to bring about a new approach towards peace through disarmament, or at least to induce the major Powers to accept existing proposals which could lead to constructive peace, instead of compelling the best brains to spend their lives in thinking how best to destroy the people of opposing nations or to devise means to stop the destruction of their own people?

“Close contacts between peoples may do much to foster our unchallenged objective: faith in individual and collective freedom,” said Mr Nash.

Middle East Tension “An equally dangerous focus of tension continues to exist in the Middle East. The situation there is quiet at present, but the fundamental causes of instability—discord between Israel and the Arab countries and Soviet expansionism—remain as the seeds of future conflict” The Prime Minister said that he did not believe war was desired in the Soviet Union any more than in the United States. Although they were sometimes over-sensi-tive in their suspicions, he did not believe there was either a govern- , ment or a people which desired peace and the abolition of armed conflict more than the Government and people of the United States. On the other side was the Soviet Union, whose great scientific advances in recent years and whose new diplomatic attitude based on these advances intensified American apprehensions and suspicions.