NO PROTEST

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33774, 21 February 1975, Page 3

NO PROTEST

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent BONN, February 20. The Prime Minister (Mr Rowling) is unlikely to make any formal protest if France sets off an underground nuclear test in the Pacific during his visit to Paris, starting today. But he will reaffirm New Zealand’s opposition to all forms of nuclear testing when he meets the French President (Mr Giscard d’Estaing). Mr Rowling was deeply shocked when he heard in Hamburg that the French had announced a new warning to shipping around their nuclear test bases at Mururoa and Fangataufa in the Pacific. But it is

believed that he has decided against making a big diplomatic issue out of any resumption of testing. Mr Rowling had hoped that his Paris visit would mark the end of New Zealand’s long-standing dispute With France, now that the World Court has ruled on the issue and the French have said they are switching to underground testing. The New Zealand Government is likely to follow the same procedure it has adopted with Russia and the United States in the past when they have carried out underground tests —letting its “regret” be known through diplomatic channels rather than formally protesting.