Vietnam gives warm welcome to Hayden

Press, 1 July 1983, Page 6

Vietnam gives warm welcome to Hayden

NZPA Hanoi Australia yesterday gained Vietnam’s backing for any move to help solve the Kampuchean problem. The Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Bill Hayden, was given the goahead in talks in Hanoi with the Foreign Minister of Vietnam, Mr Nguyen Co Thach. A big turnaround in the talks came when Mr Thach said that Vietnam was not concerned over whether Australia gave Vietnam aid or not. “The biggest thing from Australia would be its sup-

port for our struggle for 1 independence,” Mr Thach 1 told Australian journalists, i “That would be invaluable : aid.” I A report from Hanoi yes- 1 terday quoted the Prime Minister, Mr Pham Van Dong, as saying that he ; would be happy to invite his Australian counterpart, Bob Hawke, to Vietnam, and he ' was ready to go to Australia I himself if he was invited. 1 Mr Thach has accepted I an invitation to visit Australia at the end of this s year. 1 Mr Hayden said after < their talks that no details s

had been discussed on the Kampuchean problem so far except the negotiating stance already canvassed by A.S.E.A.N. and Vietnam. The A.S.E.A.N. five - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand — have laid down as a precondition for talks with Hanoi a 30km pullback of Vietnamese forces from the Thai-Kampuchean border. Hanoi has flatly dismissed such a deal, saying that it failed to recognise the threat posed by China to the security of the region.