Editorial accuses P.M. of ‘glib insouciance’

Press, 3 July 1986, Page 5

Editorial accuses P.M. of ‘glib insouciance’

NZPA-Reuter Hong Kong The “Asian Wall Street Journal” has accused the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, of “glib insouciance” for his anti-nuclear stance and said he was taking New Zealand towards the Non-Aligned Movement. The newspaper said in an editorial that Mr Lange misjudged popular concern about Western security in his anti-nuclear position, which has strained the A.N.Z.U.S. allinncA It said he put on a brave face by saying that the people of New Zealand were not afraid to go

it alone, but it noted that he also said the United States would still come to New Zealand’s aid in a crisis. “Could it be that he knows that the average working men and women of New Zealand are not reacting ... with the same glib insouciance?" it said. New Zealand voters will “notice that Mr Lange is taking them out of the Western alliance and towards the Non-Aligned Movement, and when they do Mr Lange might find he has misjudged their concern about Western security,” said the newspaper.

In a companion article, Sir Robert Muldoon accused Mr Lange of policy reversals and appealing to xenophobia after the sinking last year of the Rainbow Warrior. He said that Mr Lange, in spite of defiant rhetoric, had been forced to submit the question of two French secret service agents, to the binding arbitration of the United Nations Secretaiy-Gen-“The Prime Minister simply could not afford the damage that France could do to New Zealand trade,” said Sir Robert “He caved in.”