U.S. commitment to South Pacific

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 4

U.S. commitment to South Pacific

NZPA staff corres. Canberra

New Zealand and Australia yesterday won an American commitment to provide special assistance to the South Pacific in the face of growing Soviet interest in the region. The United States said at the two-day A.N.Z.U.S. council meeting that it would do more to promote stability in the area.

Assistance is expected to cover such items as development of a regional shipping service and establishment of fishing industries. Help might also be given to South Pacific countries, including New Zealand and Australia, to intensify surveillance of the 200-mile offshore economic zones when these are declared. An Australian Foreign Affairs spokesman told journalists that to some extent the increased interest shown by the council in

South Pacific affairs represented a victory for New Zealand, which for the last two years had urged greater interest in the area. About 15 per cent of the three-page communique was devoted to South Pacific matters, the spokesman said. He contrasted this with brief mention the area has won in communiques issued by previous A.N.Z.U.S. council meetings. The New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Talboys), who led the New Zealand delegation to the talks, said that the communique indicated a “heightened awareness” of the three A.N.Z.U.S. partners in the South Paci-

Official sources said that American increased aid would be confined to financial and technological help.

The Australian delegation to the talks was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Andrew Peacock), and the United States’ delegation by the Deputy Secretary of State (Mr Charles Robinson). Mr Robinson told a meet-

ing of the National Press Club in Canberra that the long-range threat of Russian operations in the South Pacific was “very serious.” The Russian presence brought a new dimension into the Pacific, but the United States was determined to provide the equivalent in strength to match the Russian presence in terms of “numbers and quality.” There was a growing destabilisation” in the Pacific because of the growing number of independent States. “Most of the new groups are not economically viable, and this introduces a new significant challenge to the free world,” Mr Robinson said. “It is no secret that others would be prepared to absorb this burden.”

Mr Robinson pledged American protection for New Zealand and Australia. “Your security is our security,” he said. “We would not regard protection for Australia as a foreign war. There would be a definite necessity to protect our interests.”