Mr Kirk On Cambodia

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32322, 13 June 1970, Page 12

Mr Kirk On Cambodia

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

SAIGON, June 12.

The New Zealand Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk) arrived in Saigon today from Phnom Penh. He said that unlike the rest of Indo - China, Cambodia faced aggression rather than insurgency.

“They are not confronted with an insurgency. They are confronted with aggression,” he said. In addition, Cambodia had a constitution which rested upon elected deputies. “So in every way you can imagine, the basis of their position

and their troubles is different from any other (country in Indo-China), perhaps one of the few nations that is being united by its troubles rather than divided,” Mr Kirk said. He is on a four-day visit to South Vietnam, where about 800 New Zealand troops are stationed. His party is opposed to New Zealand’s participation in the war, and has said that the troops would be withdrawn if Labour were returned to power.

Mr Kirk said he intended, on his return to Wellington, to speak to the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) about the possibility of sending medical supplies to Cambodia. Cambodian leaders had told him “quite frankly” what the country needed. “Quite aside from their position over weapons, they raised the fact that they were short of medical supplies,” Mr Kirk said. He had had meetings with General Lon Nol, the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Sirik Matak) and the Foreign Minister (Mr Yem Sambaur).

It seemed, Mr Kirk said, that the Cambodian crisis had achieved a great sense of national unity. The country’s leaders were embarrassed by the number of volunteers for the Army. “They have no equipment, but are now in the position of having more people volunteer than they can equip and train," he said.

Mr Kirk is on his first visit to South Vietnam. While here, he will meet President Nguyen Van Thieu and other Government leaders, and the Ambassadors of Britain, Australia, and the United States. He will also visit New Zealand troops at Vung Tau and Nui Dat, south-east of Saigon, and fly north to Qui Nhon, 260 miles north-east of Saigon, to visit New Zealand medical teams.

He leaves for Hong Kong on Tuesday on a tour that has taken him so far to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. He will later visit Taiwan and Indonesia.