Australia-Vietnam relations to resume

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 1

Australia-Vietnam relations to resume

NZPA Bangkok Australia brought its Indo-China peace plan back to A.S.E.A.N. yesterday with the important new announcement that it would open its bilateral relationship with Vietnam. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Bill Hayden, has said Australia would back Vietnam’s right to multilateral aid through United Nations agencies and open Ministerial and cultural exchanges between the two countries.

The move will be seen as ending Vietnam’s international isolation over its invasion of Kampuchea and is expected to be an important topic of discussion when Mr Hayden meets Thailand’s Foreign Minister, Sid-

dhi Savetsila. Mr Hayden goes into talks, however, with Australia firmly established as a big new factor in bringing about a peaceful solution to the Indo-Chinese conflict after gaining the full backing of the five A.S.E.A.N. partners and Vietnam.

He said that his talks with the A.S.E.A.N. nations - Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines — and Vietnam, had not achieved any precise new movements, but Australia’s acceptance as a possible catalyst in the peace process was the main advance.

Mr' Hayden said that in all the discussions there appeared to be ground for common dialogue but the

process would require considerable patience. In Vientiane on Saturday, after talks with the Laotian Government, Mr Hayden revealed the effective normalising of Australia’s bilateral relationship with Vietnam. He said he believed that to cut Vietnam off from what Australia could offer was counter-productive.

Mr Hayden also gave the Vietnamese Foreign Minister, Nguyen Co Thach, the firm understanding in Hanoi earlier this week that any moves to stop multilateral aid to Vietnam through United Nations agencies would be opposed by Australia.