The Nations at Year's End

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 805, 24 December 1954, Page 4

The Nations at Year's End

N the last days of the year a ] glance at the international scene is reassuring. This is partly a subjective reaction, perhaps even an illusion: for the holiday mood, advancing swiftly, makes it easier to be hopeful. Yet the situation can be seen more clearly when. the tumult of the year begins to subside. And there is evidence that in most parts of the world the outlook has improved. It is, of course, better in some places than in others. Observers with some knowledge of what has happened in Indo-China since the partition are pessimistic; but an, uneasy truce which favours the Communists (who were gaining ground before the cease-fire) is better than open warfare. Indo-China is part of an area in which much more is involved than Communism. Racial divisions and national aims in South-East Asia are elements in_a situation which will remain difficult and confused for many years. Western Powers most interested in the area, including New Zealand, entered into treaty arrangements at the Manila conference which will strengthen their collective defences; and the aim here, as elsewhere, was to check the exploitation of unrest by the Communists. It is recognised, however, that the unrest will continue-with or without intervention from Moscow and Peking-until the Asian’ peoples have more security and higher standards of living. The task of the next few years will be, not merely to tighten defences in the Pacific, but to push forward with economic and _ technical assistance. In Europe the big landmark was the London agreement on Western defence. The European Defence Community, rejected by France, was replaced by a scheme notable

for two changes: the retention of national identity by the armies training together, and Britain’s entry as a full partner. From a military point of view, the United Kingdom now becomes a Continental Power. This historic change in British policy was not given unanimous approval, but it solved a fundamental problem in FrenchGerman relations. And the break with traditional policy should not be hard to accept in a strategic situation which makes any sort of isolation unrealistic. Britain’s frontiers, like America’s, have long ceased to be coastlines. Events in South-East Asia and Europe have been regional adjustments within the world framework of Western strategy. Apart from the cease-fire in Indo-China, they have not been positive contributions. Their value goes no further than the value of any defensive policy; and today, when the deterrent to war is more likely to be the hydrogen bomb than: the disposition of armed forces, it is hard not to feel that all treaty arrangements have a faint air of unreality. The real testing grounds are still the assembly halls and committee rooms of United Nations. Only there can representatives of East and West work together for compromise. The Russians, in spite of some political moves which emphasise the old divisions, have continued to be more conciliatory than under the Stalin regime. Although too much significance should not be given to Russia’s support of the "Atoms-for-peace" plan in the Political Committee, the unanimous vote was a heartening gesture. Approval of an idea is not necessarily a promise of co-operation, but the way to agreement is still open. At the end of 1954 it can at least be said that the set of the current is in the right direction.