Nuclear reluctance partly caused defeat — P.M.

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34123, 8 April 1976, Page 3

Nuclear reluctance partly caused defeat — P.M.

l.\eio Zealand Press Association* AUCKLAND, April 7. The Vietnam war became a catastrophe because of America’s unwillingness to use nuclear weapons and because of the Watergate scandal, the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) told the Bureau of Importers and Exporters in Auckland today.

He was attacking Russian “imperialism” in a speech in which he also attacked militant unionism and opposition to visits by United States nuclear-powered warships. All the actions of the So-i viet Union in recent times i pointed not to Russian defence but to “imperalism and agression,” said the Prime Minister. “There is only one power on earth that can resist that aggression, and that is the power of the United States of America, and we must be thankful that in spite of the catastrophe of Vietnam — a catastrophe caused by the unwillingness of the American Administration to use its ultimate weapons and by the result of human failings, which was Watergate — there nevertheless remains in the United States a willingness to be the leader (and indeed ultimately the iguardian of the free world,” he said.

Mr Muldoon promised that New Zealand would be visited by American warships. “They will not have a strategic context. There has never been the slightest suggestion that they need to be based in New Zealand. They (will come here in the course (of wide-ranging world i cruises, to let their crews ashore to meet our people and for us to meet them, as J has been the case in the past. “They will be here simply to further cement the good will between our peoples, . and as such I have not the ) slightest, doubt they will be ' received by the people of t New Zealand.” , Some had claimed that nu- ’ clear retaliation could be provoked by such visits. “This is just so much nonsense, and we must not get ourselves into that frame of mind,” said Mr Muldoon. “Indeed, we must not permit ; mischievous people to sow

. |those seeds of fear in the minds of New Zealanders !without putting the opposite and the logical and realistic i point of view.” A statement by the United] : States Vice-President (Mr Rockefeller) that there was no such thing as a riskless i(society in a modern world was a "profound truth.” “As a people and as a Government we must weigh ■ up the factors and the pressures that will determine our future and act accordl ingly. “We can opt for mutual ■ defence with allies who have i the same attitude towards ; freedom and democracy, or we can leave ourselves - defenceless. • “All of history tells us that the second course would be fatal, and it is for L that reason that my Government will stand firmly against protests, such as they are, of concerned New (Zealanders who are gen-

•luinely apprehensive, but, , more importantly, of New Zealanders who owe less allegiance to their country and their people than they do to an aggressive foreign j Power." Spreading his attack to militant unions, Mr Muldoon ; said: “I invite you as individual New Zealanders, but on behalf of all the things in this country that you hold dear, to support me and my Government, whether in the industrial field against the sabotage of these o-called Socialist Unity Party militants, in the news media against their subtle propa- , ganda, or in other organisations, not forgetting your churches, so that with a sense of history, you, as re- , sponsible citizens in this • community, can make the ■ people realise that there is no such thing as a riskless society, but that democracy • and our way of life is the only way for New Zealand- - ers in the future,”