French to end tests before long—P.M.

Press, 28 May 1983, Page 6

French to end tests before long—P.M.

PA Wellington The French President, Mr Mitterrand, said earlier this month that nuclear testing at Mururoa would be completed “before long,” the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, said yesterday. Mr Muldoon said Mr Mitterrand indicated a time when they met in Paris but that it was up to the French Government to make that public. The Prime Minister said he was clarifying reports of comments he made on Thursday. “He gave me no assurances that testing would stop immediately, and that is why I was not surprised at this week’s test," Mr Muldoon said.

“He did, however, give me an indication that the testing would be completed before long and in fact indicated a time period. It

is not appropriate for me to disclose that period as that is a matter for the French Government,” said Mr Muldoon.

France yesterday made no comment on reports that it had carried out a nuclear test in the Pacific.

The Defence Ministry, following standard policy, declined to confirm or deny that France had tested a 70kiloton device at Mururoa Atoll this week. The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Bill Hayden, said in Canberra that the explosion, the fifty-fourth, and one of the largest since France began underground testing in 1975, had seriously strained relations between the two countries. France has said there was no danger and that it must continue missile and bomb tests for its nuclear forces.

Nuclear tests on Mururoa have become a big diplomatic headache for France in its dealings with Pacific countries. The subject was certain to be discussed when the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, met President Mitterrand in Paris on June 9, diplomats said. The test programme was halted for a review of French nuclear policy less than a week after President Mitterrand and the socialists were elected in May 1981, but it was restarted the next month. President Mitterrand’s Administration has emphasised the importance of the country’s nuclear deterrent and recently adopted a law pumping more money into atomic weapons at the expense of conventional forces.