Bad relations put down to 'language problem’

Press, 22 May 1978, Page 6

Bad relations put down to 'language problem’

The Deputy Prime Minis-< ter (Mt Taiboys) puts the! mggested bad relations be-! Ween the New Zealand and Australian Prime Ministers! lown to a common “lanluage problem." Answering a question from i delegate at the Foreign Policy School, Mr Taiboys laid that both Prime Minis-■ ers spoke the same language. Because of this, hard ind direct negotiations were 'eported directly and people 1

I said “they have been argu'ing.” In comparison, Mr Talboys jsaid, negotiations made ! through an interpreter, such ias occurred in Korea or Japan, sounded soft and melj low bv the time they came jout. “It sounds as if there has (been no argument, but I can assure you there has been," I Mr Taiboys said. But he said that when two 'neople spoke the same lan-

■ guage they should be direct and “tell it like it is,” rather ; than “duck and dive.” : “I don’t expect every i Minister I meet to like me, and 1 don’t like every Minister I meet,” Mr Taiboys said. ' But this does not alter the fact that Ministers had to ; negotiate with each other, | ! and that their decisions were! made in the interests of their , respective countries, not out] 'of personal considerations. |