MR EYRE GIVES N.Z. SUPPORT FOR U.S.

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30741, 4 May 1965, Page 1

MR EYRE GIVES N.Z. SUPPORT FOR U.S.

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, May 3.

New Zealand affirmed its support for American policy in Vietnam at the opening public session of the Council of Ministers of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation.

The chief delegate and Minister of Defence (Mr Eyre) said: “If we accept the obligations of the Manila Treaty, as well as its rights and benefits, we cannot but approve the action taken by the United States.”

Mr Eyre also emphasised that in the face of military aggression and insurgency, economic and social programmes became insufficient by themselves to ensure that prosperity and freedom were maintained. “If force is used, that force must be met with force,” he said.

The situation in Vietnam represented the most immediate threat in the S.E.A.T.O. area. Mr Eyre said. “We must ensure that this cancer does not spread further afield; there are certain

dangers that it may do so,” he warned.

Mr Eyre said the situation in Laos was still a troubled one and Communist China had in the last year demonstrated its potential to develop a nuclear capability. “It has actively pursued its plans to include the whole of South-east Asia within its sphere of influence,” he said. Mr Eyre said the confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia had shown no sign that it would be quickly and amicably settled in the near future. It too represented a “grave threat to the peace and stability of the whole area.

“In the last year, my Government has expanded its military and economic assistance to Malaysia, and our naval, air and land forces are now engaged in its support. “The countries represented here cannot overlook the fact that there are very grave

dangers inherent in all these situations; nor can we afford to neglect their implications for the S.E.A.T.O. area as a whole,” Mr Eyre said. Mr Eyre described S.E.A.T.O. as a defensive alliance.

“In the words of the treaty, it exists so that member countries can assist one another to ‘maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack and to prevent and counter subversive activities directed from without against their territorial integrity and political stability.’

“We do our utmost to achieve these aims by peaceful means. To this end 5.E.A.T.0., although primarily a military alliance, has played its part in economic and social development in South-east Asia. Its members have contributed bilaterally and through other agencies, including the United Nations," he said. “South Vietnam has had to take up arms in the face of aggression, at first hidden, now open, on the part of North Vietnam. v TYPE OF WAR “The war in Vietnam is not a popular uprising against the established Government, but a war which is directed and assisted from outside. “Pledged to support the Government of South Vietnam, the United States honoured its promises and provided technical assistance and military personnel in an advisory capacity. “As the war intensified as a result of increasingly substantial assistance on the part of North Vietnam, so the United States in response to the requests of the legitimate Government of South Vietnam, was forced to intensify its response and United States military personnel are now actively engaged in various roles.

“If we accept the obligations of the Manila Treaty, as well as its rights and benefits, we cannot but approve the action taken by the United States,” he said.