Aust. Minister ‘given hell of a hammering’

Press, 29 June 1983, Page 6

Aust. Minister ‘given hell of a hammering’

NZPA Bangkok The American Secretary of State, Mr George Shultz, and the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Bill Hayden, have clashed sharply over Australia’s offer to facilitate peace talks in Indo-China, say Canberra officials in Bangkok. Mr Shultz had criticised and severely questioned Australia’s motive and made it plain that the United States was not expecting much success from Mr Hayden’s visit to Hanoi. Australian officials said yesterday that Mr Shultz had given Mr Hayden “an extremely tough time” in the first private session of the conference by the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Canada and the European Economic Community. A.S.E.A.N. comprises Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Foreign Ministers of the five countries were meeting in Bangkok, along with leaders from their socalled dialogue partners. The Australians asserted that the United States had co-ordinated a strong antiAustralian stand before Mr Hayden went into the closed meeting. The officials said that from the start of proceedings Mr Hayden had been given “a hell of a hammering” by Mr Shultz. Mr Shultz had concentrated on fears that Australia would end Vietnam’s isolation and the possibility that Australia may try approaches outside the A.S.E.A.N. stand. It is believed that he had strongly pressed the point about the need for consistency of a Government policy on issues such as Indo-China. The officials said that the Australian delegation had encountered difficulty in obtaining copies of the session’s agenda before Mr Hayden went into the meeting. After some hours of discussion on Kampuchea Mr Hayden had been asked without warning to present his views on subjects such as the Soviet Union’s influence in Europe and the Pacific. Canberra officials said that the Australians felt as though they were being “set up.” At one point Mr Shultz is believed to have referred to the Australian plan as “stupid.” He also had made it plain that the United States would back A.S.E.A.N. all the way over Kampuchea. But on Monday afternoon the A.S.E.A.N. response to

Australia’s offer had switched to one of support. Mr Hayden was given A.S.E.A.N.’s approval for any progress Australia could make and will take an oral message of good will to Hanoi today. Observers in Bangkok said that it was believed Mr Hayden’s unwillingness to yield to the intense pressure in the morning session had prompted the A.S.E.A.N. response in the afternoon. Mr Hayden held private talks with Mr Shultz late on Monday night and it is believed that the exchange was not much warmer than the day’s closed session. Mr Shultz’s earlier attack had been backed up by the five A.S.E.A.N. nations, Canada, and West Germany, Australian officials said. The New Zealand delegation had not appeared to back either point of view. The United States earlier had expressed reservations about Australia’s offer to play a part in bringing about possible peace talks with Vietnam over Kampuchea. A senior American State Department official said that the United States “was not expecting much” from Mr Hayden’s visit to Hanoi. The official said that the United States would support any A.S.E.A.N. stand on the Kampuchean issue, but expressed some gloom about any progress likely to be made by Australia. A.S.E.A.N. and its dialogue partners, which include New Zealand, recognise only the Pol Pot regime as Kampuchea’s legal Government. In December, 1978, the Vietnamese Army toppled Pol Pot’s Government, which had ruled Kampuchea since April, 1974, and which is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of up to three million Kampucheans. The Vietnamese installed a Government led by Heng Samrin, which the A.S.E.A.N. States do not re-

cognise, and which has twice been refused a seat in the United Nations. China, which opposes the Vietnamese presence and the Heng Samrin Administration, was a patron of the Pol Pot Government. Last year A.S.E.A.N. and China lent their support to a coalition led by the former Cambodian Head of State, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, and Son Sann, and leaders of the former Pol Pot Government, which aims at ousting the Heng Samrin regime and the Vietnamese from Kampuchea. The coalition is also supported by A.S.E.A.N.’s dialogue partners. A.S.E.A.N. and its Pacific and European allies have blocked off trade to Vietnam. Thailand’s Foreign Minister, Air Chief Marshall Siddhi Savetsila, making a keynote opening speech, said that his South-east Asian colleagues were ready to listen to any constructive ideas from any interested party that would bring about a political settlement in Kampuchea and the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops. A.S.E.A.N. held its annual Foreign Ministers’ meeting last week and renewed an appeal to Vietnam to pull out its 180,000-man force in Kampuchea and to negotiate. But the group’s unity is threatened by an election pledge from Australia’s Labour Party leaders that once in power, Canberra would resume its aid to Hanoi. Vietnam has made it clear that if the election pledge to resume aid to Hanoi is not implemented Mr Hayden’s prospects of helping secure a Kampuchean settlement would be minimal. A.S.E.A.N. officials say that any resumption of aid would strain A.S.E.A.N.’s relations with Canberra and weaken Mr Hayden’s credibility as a political middleman.