DANGER IN THE EAST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 105, 16 February 1950, Page 5

DANGER IN THE EAST

COMMUNIST THREAT FOREIGN POLICY OF AUSTRALIA (N.Z.P. A.—Copy right) (Rec. 11.10 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The problems of Australia’s foreign policy were discussed by Mr P. S. Spender at a function in honour of Mr C. J. Chancellor, gene-ral-manager of Reuter’s, London. Mr Spender said the problems were: (1) The spread of Communism in South East Asia and the need to find a positive answer to that challenge; (2) the best means of using the potentialities of the British Commonwealth- to meet that challenge; (3) co-ordination of Australia’s foreign policy with'that of the United States, and (4) the. need to compose present differences between the Western Powers and Russia without appeasement) * He said that for Australia the centre of gravity had shifted to the Pacific and South-East Asia, and as a consequence she found herself in a position of potential difficulty not comparable with- any other period in her history. Indo-China presented the first challenge to Australians. “If Frencfi Indo-China goes, and if those States fall under Communism, it will be too late,” Mr Spender warned. “Communism will sweep through the whole- area in which we live. I think America ft* realising that it cannot regard Japan as the whole of the area to its westward. It may well be- that the final struggle, if there is to be one, will take place in the East and not in the West.”

Power of Britain Mr Spender added that he was satisfied that some basis for fighting the Communist challenge existed in membership of the British Commonwealth. The security of Australia increased as the power of Britain as a nation was strengthened. •It was of vast importance to Australia and the peace of the world that the power and prestige of Britain should be restored and increased beyond the point reached during the war. It was unfortunate that it had not been possible for the Western world ot compose its objectives with those of Soviet Russia. It was important still to attempt to solve that problem and, in. doing that, Australia s foreign policy should be co-ordinated as much as possible with that of the United States. No doubt this could be done, because the United States believed in the same general principles as Australia, and Australia had the utmost desire to work in the closest collaboration with her. “With the terrible instruments of destruction existing to-day,” said Mr Spender, “every effort must be made to compose whatever differences exist with Soviet Russia, but whatever approach is made, there must be no policy of appeasement. Any such policy would lead to destruction as surely as it did in 1939.”