GREAT ISSUES

Evening Star, Issue 25067, 7 January 1944, Page 2

GREAT ISSUES

PACIFIC SECURITY ZONE PROJECTS (Rec. 12.45 p.m.) SYDNEY, January 7. The pending conference of senior "Australian and New Zealand Ministers to be held at Canberra this month is being enthusiastically anticipated by Commonwealth political observers. It is seen as heralding the closest possible liaison between neighbour dominions as well as foreshadowing much ' wider post-war relations with other Pacific nations. Conference agreement on the practical principles governing the common security and future development of our two countries is regarded as certain. "Such conferences should be regular and routine affairs," declares the ' Melbourne Herald.' " That they have not been so is a discredit to' earlier Governments. If the Pacific war has achieved one good thing it is that it lias. p»t an end to. the Australian myth of isolation, and forced us not only to know our neighbours, but to take heed of them."

A post-war policy to guard against future aggression in the Pacific will be a major topic for consideration 'by the conference. Australia is believed to favour the formation 'of a Pacific security zone policed by the Powers holding Pacific interests. It is suggested that a security zone proposal for the Pacific could be fitted into a general scheme for ensuring the future of world peace which will be formulated by the general peace conference. Under the Pacific security zone proposal nations whose territorial interests are affected will probably contribute men, money, and materials for the defence of the area. As New Zealand and Australia are the most likely sufferers from any future aggression in the Pacific, it is accepted here as essential that they reach agreement on this vital matter before any broader conferences are held, involving other Imperial interests or foreign Powers. Considerable interest has been aroused in Australia by Mr Nash's suggestion of a five-Power" • federation covering the Pacific Islands from the Solomons to the Marquesas. Such an Australian-New Zealand zone of security might be our second line of defence to the suggested American belt of ,bases running across the Pacific from California to China, and including the Pelews, Carolines, Marianas, and Marshall Islands. Many observers believe that Australia and New Zealaud will offer wholehearted support to this reported Cairo conference plan of a broad American-held belt between them and Japan More than concerning itself with actual defence matters, the pending meeting of Australian and New Zealand Ministers is also regarded here as the first important step in a, broader policy of regional co-operation. Following the New Zealand-Australia meeting, the Commonwealth proposes to call a conference of all powers concerned in the South-west Pacific. These are expected to include the United States, Britain, France, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Portugal. . ' A COMPLEX PROBLEM. Other subjects to be considered at the Ministerial talks may include the complex problem of immigration, particularly of coloured immigration. " Australians believe it to be essential that both dominions be free to develop as great white countries and bastions of British civilisation in the Southern Pacific." says the Sydney ' Daily Mirror ' editorially. "To do this they must have the strength that comes from numbers of people, -.from high standards of living, and from an expanding industrial economy." Viewing closer Australia-New Zealand co-operation as a preliminary to greatly widened Commonwealth international relations, and emphasising particularly the need for the closest post-war relations with the-United States, the 'Sydney Herald ' to-day says editorially: " it is not alone for security's sake that we should seek to work in closer association'as a regular practice. Beyond security our hopes for the development of a richer life in the post-war world demand the firmest basis of international understanding, and such understanding unless continually cultivated, is likely to be as impermanent as any old-time treaty of alliance and friendship. Australia and New Zealand may well prove powerful influences in bringin"- about in the wider world that political co-operation between Britain and the United States which purely European interests have in the past failed to achieve."