THE PRESS THURSDAY, SEPT. 22, 1983. Ominous start to U.N. session

Press, 22 September 1983, Page 20

THE PRESS THURSDAY, SEPT. 22, 1983. Ominous start to U.N. session

The new session of the United Nations General Assembly has begun in an ominous way after the Soviet shooting down of the Korean airliner. The Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Gromyko, will not be attending and heated exchanges have already occurred over the airliner disaster. The statement of the new president of the General Assembly, Mr Jorge Illueca, of Panama, likening the downing of the airliner to the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand that touched off World War I, is a further indication of the tension in New York.

Away from the United Nations, in the talks on intermediate-range nuclear weapons being held in Geneva, the United States and the Soviet Union have expressed their intentions of not allowing the airliner incident to interfere with progress in their talks. The stakes at Geneva are very high indeed. The General Assembly has been, on many occasions, a platform for propaganda, and some of the things which cannot be said at Geneva may be said at New York. Nevertheless, in spite of the way the session has begun, there is no way of predicting how it will develop. The ancient principle that it is better to jaw than to war still holds, and the nations are likely to talk themselves out of at least some of their disputes.

During this session, the items of most interest to New Zealand include the address of the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, to the General Assembly on October 4; the annual discussion of the future of Tokelau; the debate on the future of the Antarctic; the disarmament debate; and, because New Zealand has recently become a member again, the discussions in the Economic and Social Council. New Zealand was defeated last year in its bid for a seat on the Security Council and will not be making another bid for some time.

The destruction of the Korean airliner, although bound to sour a large number of discussions during this session, may not affect directly many of the issues which are of immediate concern to New Zealand, except the disarmament debates. Because New Zealand is small and blessed with peace, this country does not have the opportunity to say much about disarmament in world councils. The disarmament debate at the United Nations is the one important opportunity. New Zealand will again sponsor a resolution for a comprehensive test-ban treaty which calls for an end to all testing of nuclear weapons. The airliner incident, having alerted the world to the tight margin between 1 peace and a major conflict, may even spur on the arguments for bans of tests and against the arms race. Mr Muldoon is expected to devote much of his address to the General Assembly to economic questions and may be expected to repeat his call for a new Bretton Woods agreement. Even amid all the tensions, the economic problems of 'the world will remain and are likely to worsen. An increasing number of countries seem unlikely to be in a position Ao take advantage of any upturn in the world

economy because of their problems of external debt. Unless some solution is found, world trade may he restricted and a true recovery will not get under way. Although there does not yet seem to be a widespread political will to hold such a conference, countries have stared into the abyss of mass unemployment for a long time now and a sudden desire to make the international trade and payments system work to the advantage of all cannot be ruled out. The United Nations General Assembly is as good a place as any to place the dilemma before the world again.

New Zealand remains one of the world’s few countries with a dependent territory to administer. Tokelau has perhaps 1500 people and New Zealand administers the islands. The traditional administrator was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. When the new Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr M. Norrish, took office, the post of Administrator was split from the secretary’s job. The present Administrator is Mr F. H. Corner, the former Secretary of Foreign Affairs. New Zealand is called on by the United Nations to report on its administration of Tokelau and to say what steps are being taken to bring the islands towards self-determination. Tokelauans are New Zealand citizens and, within the islands, largely conduct their own affairs. The size of the population makes full independence a problem. New Zealand endeavours to demonstrate to the decolonisation committee each year that it is discharging its administration responsibly.

The Antarctic debate will be one of the trickier debates for New Zealand. Malaysia sought to have the future of the Antarctic discussed in the United Nations. As one of the signatories of the Antarctic Treaty, as a country which has a scientific programme in Antarctica, as one of the countries which claims territory there, and as one of the countries closest to the Antarctic, New Zealand has a very great interest in the continent. It wants the administration to remain in the hands of the Antarctic Treaty countries.

The recent admission of Brazil and India to the status of consultative parties might annul some of the support for the Malaysian proposal to have the Antarctic come under United Nations administration. The presence of China as an observer at the Antarctic Treaty meeting being held in Canberra might also remove some of the support that Malaysia will need to bring the Antarctic under U.N. administration. As a generally strong supporter of the United Nations, New Zealand is in a somewhat anomalous position in the debate. However, like the other Antarctic Treaty countries, New Zealand will be able to hold up the workings of the Antarctic Treaty as one of the best examples of international co-operation, unencumbered by the wrangles, distractions, and irrelevancies of some other forms of socalled co-operation. The General Assembly, having surveyed the alternatives, and other examples, may well conclude that leaving well alone is the best course.