Pacific threat warning

Press, 3 August 1981, Page 2

Pacific threat warning

PA Wellington A warning to protect and develop the South Pacific in the face of Soviet threats was issued by the retiring Minister of Foreign Affairs (MrTalboys) at the National Party conference yesterday. Speaking at his farewell after 24 years in Parliament, Mr Taiboys said party members had to accept a wider responsibility and not only concentrate on winning an election. A Soviet base had been set up in Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay, bringing the Russians 3000 miles closer in one jump, Mr Taiboys said.

That increased the Soviet capacity to “range far into the Pacific and far to the south. What is the purpose? I do not know.” New Zealand should bear in mind during its development that it should also develop the South Pacific region. The process of decolonisation in the South Pacific had been increased, “largely without trouble.” New Zealand should aim, as it develops its own resources, to secure that area and contribute further to its development, Mr Taiboys said.

A Soviet fishing base somewhere in the Island countries would change the perspective of the South Pacific, as viewed by Washington, Tokyo, Canberra, and Wellington, he said. Mr Taiboys also spoke

against the proponents of neutrality and non-align-ment, saying New Zealand could not be non-aligned. During the farewell the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) announced that the Queen had expressed the wish to personally invest Mr Taiboys with the'Companion of Honour when she visited New Zealand this year. Mr Muldoon also noted that Mr Taiboys had recently joined the select band of those who had been forced to leave the House, and it included Mr Muldoon. The Prime Minister described Mr Taiboys as a steadfast member of the caucus who had always brought a voice of reason and moderation. In the heat of battle Mr Taiboys had been able to “take a pace to the rear, look at it objectively and then say to us, ‘fellows, isn’t this perhaps the.better way?’ “We value his judgment enormously. I don’t know why he’s retiring, he’s only in early middle age.”

Mr Muldoon said Mr Talboys had been a “wonderful deputy” to him since 1974. “He’s backed me up every inch of the way.” The party’s president (Mr G. A. Chapman) described Mr Taiboys as one of the “leading, best known and most admired parliamentarians.” The loss of the former Deputy Prime Minister and deputy leader was a blow to the party, he said.