FUTURE FOREIGN POLICY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25050, 14 November 1944, Page 3

FUTURE FOREIGN POLICY

UNITED STATES MUST DECIDE NOW CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER NATIONS By SUMNER WELLES, formerly United States Under-Secretary of State. From his book. "The Time for Decision"—World Copyright Reserved.

No. XXVII. The policy of the United States Government should be directed toward helping the French people resume as rapidly as possible the position which for centuries they have occupied as one of the great Powers of the world. America may as well candidly admit that for various reasons her policy toward Franco since June, 1940, has not been a happy one. "We should make it unmistakably plain that in our own interest we want to seo France become again the great constructive force in the world that she was prior to her defeat in 1940, and that no aspect of American policy will cause the French people to be deprived of one iota of what is rightly theirs. The detailed character of the treatment to be accorded the people of Germany and of Japan is not a matter which the United States can determine by herself. It will be decided by the common agreement of the Powers by whom the Axis nations are defeated.

poses; therefore the policy of tho United States Government and the policy of American private industry must bo directed toward securing a reasonable volume of natural rubber from certain other American republics. ' . The wise policy on our part would be to prohibit tariff rates upon natural rubber which would unduly expand the production of synthetic rubber, and to negotiate some international accord, similar to tho International sugar agreement, through which the American rubber producing countries will be guaranteed, by a quota system, an assured percentage of the American market for rubber. Tn this way their production ot raw rubber would bo encouraged and the American consumer would be protected against monopolies. The United States must also use its influence to secure tho adoption by other Governments of trade and financial policies founded upon the principle of non-discrimination and of equal treatment under equal conditions. It is in that direction that the best interest of the United States lies. It is in that way that the peoples of the world can derive full benefit from their own economic capacity and from the capacity of their neighbours. These are the chief objectives upon which we should fix as the foundation of a permanent foreign policy. I believe that the only way to make sure that these aims are attained is by the creation of an international organisation through which the peoples of the earth can co-operate for their security and prosperity, and to which the United States should pledgo its wholehearted collaboration. The United States is the most powerful nation on the globe. Its people cannot afford to wait, as a few within the country are urging, the decisions of other peoples before they chart their own course. Prudence and caution are admirable characteristics of any foreign policy, but thev are deadly when they prove to be only- synonyms for indecision and timidity. The people of the United States are once more afforded the chance to offer their co-operation and their leadership to other nations. They are granted another opportunity to help to make a world in which they, and all peoples, can safely live. The decision they now make will determine their destiny.

The peaceful nations of the world are confronted with the need to control two of the most dynamic races of the present day. It is easy to stipulate that the Japanese shall in future be confined within their own islands, and that the Germanic people shall bo enclosed within the limits of a reduced or a partitioned Germany. Realism demands full understanding of the fact that any effort to enclose the Japanese or German people means, unless some outlet is afforded, an inevitable explosion later on. Insincere Propaganda Statesmanship requires that some constructive outlet be found. Peoples of the earth have long since discovered that the constant pleas of both the Japanese and the Gorman people that they require additional territories to which to send the surplus of their rapidly expanding populations were insincere and fallacious propaganda. Neither Japan nor Germany, while it possessed theni, has ever really utilised the territories acquired by conquest for emigration. The practical safety valve for these forces will be found in the realm of economics. Both Japan and Germany have already proved that they can prosper by making use of the legitimate advantages which they possess in their national genius for certain forms of industrial production and in international trade. What is required is an agreement by the other nations upon an en-r lightened approach toward the establishment of a basis for international trade of such character as to afford a fair and safe outlet to the peoples of the defeated Axis. If this basis is not found,' no kind of control, short of the continuous and unlimited exercise of force, can prevent the recurrence of the disaster of 1939. Foreign Imports If, at the conclusion of the second World War, we (U.S.A.) again raise our tariffs as we did in the 1920's and refuse to admit that our prosperity depends upon the rest of the world, if we decline to buy as well as to sell, none of the basic objectives of our foreign policy can be achieved. The people of the United States must, remember that in the post-war years not only will by far the greatest portion of the civilised earth be devastated and economically prostrate, but in many countries of the Western Hemisphere, as well as in many countries of Europe, such as the Soviet Union, industrialisation will proceed at an exceeding rapid pace. If the United Slates adheres to the policy it lias so often pursued, of attempting to shut its doors to foreign imports, it will once more contribute to a world depression of a staggering

size. The realistic policy which we should adopt is gradually to concentrate upon the manufacture for export of such articles, and there are many of them, which we can make better than any other country in the world. We have never yet attempted to make the most of our continuing capacity to invent and perfect products which, in fair competition, can always command world market. Liberal Trade Plans The essential thing is for us to make sure that fair competition in the world market will be possible. Readjustments in our domestic economy and in oar industrial and agricultural production will be required, not only for our well-being, but also in order that other nations can follow truly liberal trade policies. Only if we are willing to see that such readjustments are necessary will we be able to prevent the recurrence of disastrous economic depressions, for they have often had their origin in our own insistence, and in the insistence of other nations, upon raising every form of financial and commercial barrier to the free movement of goods between countries. The Ottawa Agreements, providing for a system of imperial preferences between the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, constitute an obstacle to any healthy flow of trado between the nations of the world. But we would have no leverage to press for the abrogation of theso policies should we ourselves revert to the economic isolationism which wo pursued during the 12 years after the first World War. Freedom of the Air Many American citizens who have been discussing the problem seem to think that the term "freedom of the air" should mean freedom of the air in all x'arts of the world for the United States, but not freedom of the air for anyone else. Like any other sovereign great Power, we must preserve free from foreign entry by air Such regions ur.der our own ilag as we may consider necessary to our military, air or naval defence. Apart from this, we must be prepared to grant to other Powers possessing civilian aviation interests, on a basis of reciprocity, the same rights for their commercial aviation as wo desire to obtain in their territory, or in the regions where they may today possess exclusive air rights. There undoubtedly must bo established, under the general supervision of the International Organisation, some international air transport authority. Its powers should be limited to securing common requirements for safety and quarantine regulations, weather reporting, and radio communications. It should be given the authority to fixrates. or to parcel out air traffic. If this were to be undertaken, all incentive to excel in competition, for which American aviation interests are superbly qualified, would be removed. United States policy must likewise make sure that in the future the strategic raw materials not produced within our own borders will always be available to us. The United States should never again be confronted with a situation similar to that which existed in 1939 and 1940, when it was largely cut off from its normal sources of supnlv of rubber and tin. Synthetic rubber will_ play an increasing part in our national economy. However it cannot be used as a substitute for natural rubber for all pur-