OUR LINKS WITH ASIA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 777, 11 June 1954, Unnumbered Page

OUR LINKS WITH ASIA

POO Oe eatin Extracts from recent commentaries on the international news, broadcast from the Main National Stations of the NZBS

HE possibility of New Zealand being called upon for such duty [observer work in Thailand for the Peace Observation Commission] . . . is an instance of the need for New Zealand to be adequately represented through diplomatic posts especially in South-East Asia-which, as the Minister of External Affairs has pointed out, is for New Zealand the "near north." We are so represented in Japan, but not anywhere else in this area, and Japan is a long way from South-East Asia, In the event of our undertaking United Nations responsibility such as I have spoken of, presumably the representative would be sent from New Zealand. This would not be so good as being able to call on a representative stationed in that part of the world. This applies particularly to such desirable considerations as immediacy or first-hand knowledge either of the situation or of. personnel concerned. Whatever may be the nature of the settlement on South-East Asia, we are certain to be increasingly the neighbours of the people who live there. Channels of communication seem to be necessary through direct diplomatic representation at least at Singapore and perheps also at Delhi. The annual con-

ference of the United Nations Assaciation of New Zealand earlier this year unanimously passed a resolution which would strongly support this view. But we as citizens must share with the Government the responsibility of intelligent and constructive participation in international affairs. On more than one occasion I have heard the Minister of External Affairs exhort us as citizens to do our part to build up an informed public opinion on our international interests and obligations. In a democracy such as ours the Governmént, while it has a responsibility to give leadership, cannot go far ahead of the citizens it represents. As long ago’ as 1950 Mr. Nehru said that the present-day ferment in Asia is the ferment of "minds in movement," of minds that are "changing and shaking." Even allowing for the influence from outside, recent events in Asia, particularly’ in the Sauth-East, justify Mr, Nehru’s words, A glance at a map of the Pacific Ocean shows that on the way

from New Zealand te South-East Asia by far the longest break in land connections is between us and Australia. We are helping to make some impact on the situation by our part in the Colombo Plan and similar technical assistance programmes. But more than that is needed. Especially through modern communications, people sense the basic attitudes one to the other, just as individuals do one to the other, If the way of international living to which we are committed is to be achieved, Cur minds must be "in movement" as well as those of the peoples of Asia. And the movement required is not "at" those peoples as in patronage, but with them-in partnership. If we have something to give them in technology, health and education, they have much to give us in philosophy, the wisdom of cultures much older than ours, and in some of the basic spiritual values. |

G. C.

BURTON

May 29, 1954.

WINDOW ON MoscOW

NLY a very thin line separates espionage from the legitimate collection of useful information by legations and embassies. Mr. Eric Halstead, M.P.. spoke in Auckland this week of the need for a "window" on South-East Asia

and indicated how useful a diplomatic mission to Singapore could be.

Since the Petrov affair has led to the closing of the Australian legation in Moscow yet another window on Russia

has been shut. Therefore, even more to day than it did at the time, it. seems a great pity that we had to withdraw the New Zealand Legation from Moscow, because it would haye been particularly useful now. While the cold war continues and there is a serious possibility of open warfare with Russia, every scrap of firsthand information we can gather about the Russian Government, their plans and their military preparedness, would be of the greatest value. On the other hand, since this is a topsy-turvy world where America busies herself with rearming Japan, her mortal enemy of 10 years ago, we might find ourselves on friendlier terms with Russia, and, once again, a window-this time a shop win-dow-in Moscow would be a great advantage. Mr, Marshall, chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Products Marketing Commission, reported from London this week that the Russians are keenly interested in buying New Zealand butter, and prefer it to margarine, which is looming up as such a threat to the New Zealand butter market in Britain, If Russian trade is to develop with New Zealand, trade and diplomatic representation in that country would be almost essential. * + BRITAIN is obviously placing her hopes on the slow, patient negotiations at Geneva, There can be no suspicion that men such as Sir Winston Churchill and Mr, Eden have become fellow travellers and are playing the Russian game. We all know that when

the Labour Party was in power, the | United States was deeply suspicious of | what it regarded as Britain’s dangerous leaning to the Left. But Churchill and

AMERICA’S

Eden are Conservatives, British patriots and statesmen of long and wide experience in|

international affairs. Their ideas on the_ best way to solve the problems of SouthEast Asia and to secure peace and free- | dom for the world are surely worth New | Zealand support,\even in the face of American insistence to the contrary. I know that the argument is that in the event of another world war Britain could not help us out here im the Pacific, while America could. But how much better to have no third world war than to have American astistance in the general cataclysm which would be the next world war. : John Foster Dulles long ago reached | the conclusion that Communism cannot | be destroyed by force alone. It may pos- . sibly prove a world tragedy that he now | appears to have forgotten his own line of argument. But in 1946 he wrote: "The most urgent task of American statesmanship is to find the policies which wil! avert a serious clash with the Soviet | Union. The Soviet programme threatens our way of life and we may react violently and foolishly. Some will want us to place our reliance wholly on our military and economic power and to use it to coerce Soviet leaders." The first step towards a solution, declared Mr. Dulles, was to demonstrate "that we genuinely cherish for ourselves and others the spiritual and intellectual freedoms which the Soviet system would take away." ... The Communist advance | in Indo-China has roused in the United States the feeling that something must be done to check it--and done quickly. | Therefore she is suggesting the use of what Mr. Dulles himself described in 1946 as "methods which seem to us de-| fensive, but which may seem to Soviet leaders to be offensive." Unfortunately, | both Australia and New Zealand seem to have become converts to the Ameri-_ can policy of hustle... Surely the wisest | course for us in New Zealand now would | be to restrain our impatience for absolute security just a little-at least until the Geneva Conference has had a fair chance to find a solution by negotiations. The stakes are very high. It would be tragic if in our rush to complete our military preperations we pretipitated the conflict we have been seeking to avoid and missed even the smallest chance of advancing towards a lasting

peace.

MARGOT

ROSS

May 22, 1954. |