Two-day A.N.Z.U.S. talks end

Press, 6 August 1976, Page 3

Two-day A.N.Z.U.S. talks end

PA Canberra The United States. Australia and New Zealand agree that it is [essential to achieve a broad balance of military capability in the Indian Ocean in face of the Soviet military build-up in the region. TheAJsI.Z.U.S. defence treaty partners noted with concern the increase of Soviet presence and capacity in the Indian Ocean when a communique w'as issued ; after their two-day talks.

The three nations also underfined the need for regional co-operation and for aid for the small island nations of the South Pacific, .where the Soviet Union had steppe! up maritime and I diplomatic activities. .The United States Deputy Secretary of State (Charles; W. Robinson) described the} long-range threat of Soviet operations in the Southern Pacific as very serious and said that their build-up was a step by step evolvement which. could start out with the servicing of fishing ves-! seis among the newly inde-i pendent island nations. Australia and New Zea-} land said that they wei-

comed actions by the United States to establish a military; base on the British-owned island of Diego Garcia to support United States forces in the Indian Ocean. The A.N.Z.U.S. council said it believed that a broad balance of military capabil-i ity, coupled with a genera! [forebears nee from provocative actions, was an essential prerequisite for the Indian Ocean. Although the Soviet thrust into the Indian Ocean re- ; mained the immediate major: strategic problem facing the A.N.Z.U.S. Powers. Soviet moves into the South Pacific i had now emerged as a po-j ‘ tential future danger. Mr Robinson told a Nat-, ional Press Club audience that there was a growing} ;destab ; !isation in the Pacific} [area as the result of the; ; indenendence of new island} [groups: this had introduced 1 a new element in foreign re-’ ; lations. ; Most of the new groups [were not economically viable: and this introduced a significant challenge to the! treaty partners. The communique, noting' the importance of China in' the Asian and Pacific regions. expressly supported, what it described as the* efforts made to build mu-: tually beneficial relations among all countries in the! South-East Asia region. He said that Indonesia was strategically and poiiti-l rally vital to South-East' Asian stability and added: “Indonesia faces very; serious problems of a rapidly exploding population: and of managing and direct-! ing its economy.”

} The A.N.Z.U.S. Powers re-i [ viewed the situation in ! } Korea and North-East Asia. [ The communique said that: the three Powers were concerned about countries which had failed to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and reaffirmed the dangeis posed by the proliferation of nuclear explosives and weapons capabilities and the need to move against these dangers. The A.N.Z.U.S. talks, which were chaired by Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister (Andrew Peacock) reviewed both Western and Soviet global strategies and i included assessments of the . ; world’s top trouble spots — I Middle East, Lebanon, ■ Southern Africa and Rhodesia. The New Zealand delegation was led by the Deputy} Prime Minister and Foreign! Affairs Minister (Brian E., Taiboys).