Britain would use veto

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32498, 7 January 1971, Page 11

Britain would use veto

(HZ. Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON, Jan. 6. The political editor of “The Times” writes: On the eve of his departure for Commonwealth visits and the Commonwealth Conference in Singapore, Mr Heath left his senior Ministers in no doubt that if the Government’s decision on supplying arms to South Africa should lead to a critical resolution in the United Nations Security Council, Britain would use the veto. Such an emphatic assertion of the Government’s posi-> tion must exclude any possibility that the conference discussions in Singapore could induce Mr Heath to change his commitment to

fulfil the letter and thei I spirit of the Simonstown i Agreement. f There may still be room; for argument about what i 'arms South Africa should bej ! allowed to buy for her ex-; ; temal maritime defence, but! . the principle is settled. Mr Heath will say in 1 1 Singapore that President '■Nixon and the American Administration, far from being 'hostile to Britain’s supply- ' ing of arms to South Africa, have lately come to understand that a countervailing i move in the Indian Ocean and [the South Atlantic has been ! made necessary by Soviet [naval expansion. The argument is that for the last few years American eyes have been turned i on the Pacific, and now, with Mr Heath’s help, there is a sudden realisation in Wash- ! ington that the Americans : have been outflanked elsei where. ' i At the same time, the

I American Administration I does not wish to increase its own involvement at a time [when political ■ attention is I fixed on withdrawal from [South-East Asia. The confidence with which ! Mr Heath goes to face the; !music in Singapore is sup-! ported by his conviction that! several countries not only! acquiesce in the Government’s decision to supply arms, but positively support it.

In the preparation for the conference, he has noted that a majority of Commonwealth countries are not obsessed with the South African controversy—they place an expansion of aid and technical help to developing countries at the head of their list of priorities. Nevertheless, Mr Heath accepts that one or two African leaders may use the conference to announce their Government’s intention to withdraw from the Commonwealth. He will meet such threats equably but with regret. For him, the Commonwealth idea has no validity if it breaks up on an issue involving one country’s national interest.