Labour plans China mission

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32659, 15 July 1971, Page 3

Labour plans China mission

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 14. A formal letter had been sent by the Labour Party to the Peking Government seeking approval for a New Zealand good-will mission to China, Mr W. W. Freer, M.P. for Mount Albert, said today.

Mr Freer said that on June 4 a letter was sent to the Secretary-General of the Chinese People’s Institute for- Foreign Affairs in Peking, informing him of a request made to the New Zealand Government by the Labour Party to send a good-will mission to China.

“This letter was prompted bv the fact that the Prime Minister had not taken any positive action at that time towards organising such a visit. The letter was intended to set out the position to the institute," he said. Mr Freer said the Labour Party still believed that New Zealand’s best interests could be served by the Government’s taking the initiative in organising such a mission, but the party was prepared to take the initiative. "Right from the outset we have made it clear that the Labour Party would co-oper-ate with the Government to ensure the success of a mission, and this has been reaffirmed in discussions with the Prime Minister and the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, who have assured me that the possibility of a mission is being closely examined.” The approach from the New Zealand Labour Party was received in China about the same time as the first approach from the Australian Labour Party, which has a mission in China at present. During the visit by the

Australian mission, which will finish tomorrow, officials have taken the opportunity to learn what they could about the political situation in New Zealand in conversations with journalists, reports an N.Z.P.A. correspondent from Canton.