MISSIONS TO MOSCOW SOVIET UNION COURTED AS CHECK TO CHINESE POWER

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33753, 28 January 1975, Page 14

MISSIONS TO MOSCOW SOVIET UNION COURTED AS CHECK TO CHINESE POWER

(By

DEV MURARKA,

, of the Observer Foreign News Service, reporting from Me -\- on January 17)

The visit of the Australian Prime Minister (Mr Gough Whitlam) to Moscow this week is an indication of the increasing need among smalie ■ Powers to use the Soviet Union to redress the balance against growing Chinese power and muscle-flexing in East and South-East Asia,

In the late 1960 s and early 197(1s Peking emerged as the blue-eyed capital of the world, everybody rushing to pay homage at the court of Mao, everybody lauding the “Great Helmsman” to the

skies. Even those countries which had disdained to recognise the very existence of Communist China became its greatest apologists and defenders, any thinking to the contrary being considered almost subversive of Western civilisation. In part, this was undoutedly due to a desire to hurt the Russians, as Moscow was to discover rather ruefully. China was in fashion. Now the Russians are happy to note that winds of change are blowing away some of the cobwebs of glamour wiM which Peking is surrounded itself, helped a host of voluntary promoters in the West. In the process, it is also being discovered that it useful to have the Russians around as well, just in case Peking thinks too much of itself. It is now China’s turn to discover that it cannot have a passport to exclusive attention in the world of international diplomacy. It is also somewhat fitting that Mr Whitlam, who established diplomatic relations between Australia and China, should have been left to make this point by visiting Moscow — the first Australian Prime Minister to do so — and almost unreservedly and at great length praising the super-Power detente, which Peking is never tired of denouncing as a conspiracy. It is another matter that Mr Whitlam did it on an evening, at a dinner in his honour at the Kremlin, when the American Secretary of State, Dr Henry Kissinger, was informing the world that detente had run into a little local difficulty over the Soviet rejection of the Trade Bill. Asian problems Though Australia is not an Asian nation, geographically, culturally or spiritually, it has an unavoidable involvement with Asia and indeed the major interest of Mr Whitlam’s trip lies in the extent to which Moscow and Canberra either differ or agree with each other on Asian problems. Judging by the speeches and, above all, by the joint communique, the Russians have no reason to be dissatisfied. On the controversial question of the Indian Ocean, which is bound to become a serious problem in the coming years, Mr Whitlam has adopted a position which appeals to the Soviet Union and which has been endorsed earlier by Asian nations like Sri Lanka and ■ India. This will not go down well either in Peking or in Washington, which tend to agree on the Indian Ocean. Though Mr Whitlam did not go so far as to denounce the Diego Garcia base which the Americans are building, he underlined the need for consultations on the future ; of the Indian Ocean among all counties concerned, 'including the Soviet Union. This in itself is quite an achievement for the Russians since the least it implies is that Moscow has as much right as Washington to shape the fate of the area.

Even on the other controversial topic in Asia, the Asian security system being promoted by Moscow and denounced by Peking, Mr Whitlam has come close to

the Soviet position in as much as he recognised the need for promoting Asian security consciousness. Interestingly enough, he did it in the context of the European Security Conference, and the inference can be drawn that he has endorsed it. In fact, he has not quite done so. But his position does demonstrate, to Soviet satisfaction, that it has become increasingly difficult to oppose Asian security as a matter of principle.

The joint communique pointedly states: "The Soviet Union and Australia note with satisfaction the considerable advances towards stengthening security and peaceful co-operation in Europe and express their hope that the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe will be successfully concluded in the near future. Russian views

“The Soviet Union and i Australia attach great importance to stengthening I peace and stability in Asia and expressed their determination to contribute in every ■ possible way to relaxing tensions further, to ensuring security and to creating conditions for making Asia a continent of peace through ! the co-operative efforts of the States of the region.” Except for the fact that the phrase “collective secur- ' ity system in Asia" has been avoided, there is really not much difference in the conceptualisation of the idea itself. For that matter, the Russians themsleves have , been lately moving away from harping on “collective security system in Asia.” They have all but abandoned the words "collective” and “securiy” and talk in general terms about security in Asia. They even go on to suggest, by implication at least, that any Soviet proposal is not necessarily in conflict with other ideas on the subject which are being promoted in Asia itself. i In his speech at the banquet in Mr Whitlam's honour, the Prime Minister, Mr Alexei Kosygin put the matter in a more sophisticated formulation. He said: “The Soviet Union will continue doing everything possible for the solution of problems of peace and security in Asia, just as, naturally, elsewhere. At the same time, we respect the proposals of other States aimed at attaining this goal.”

Thus, quite smartly, Moscow is trying to erase the impression that it is in any kind of competition with other States. All this is of greater significance if it is realised that there were no substantive discussions on the subject between the two Premiers.

Whatever the impact of Mr Whitlam’s trip on bilateral Soviet-Australian relations, and it is likely to be small in economic terms, its importance in the context of Soviet Asian policy has been enormous and will continue to be so, so long as Australia continues to follow the policy initiated by Mr Whitlam of moving away from total identification with American policies in the region. — O.F.N.S. Copyright.