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FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
AUSTRALIA IN PACIFIC.
RUSSIAN POLICY.
REVIEW BY DR. EVATT.
CANBERRA, March 13.-Aus
tralia's security in the Pacific de
pended largely upon her closest
co-operation with the British Com
monwealth and the US. Russia's
present policy of expansion was
apparently directed towards self
protection against future attack.
These points were made by the
Minister for External Affairs (Dr.
Evatt) when speaking on Austra
lia's place in the post-war world
in the House of Representatives
today.
Dealing with the Pacific, Dr.
Evatt said that the Government
would not be a party to any hasty
plans for reallocation of territory
or the disposition of military bases,
nor would it enter into any com
mitments which would lessen the
control of the Australian people
over their own territories.
While no detailed means of en
suring security in the Pacific had
yet been decided, he said, it was
apparent that Australia's security
depended largely upon closest co
operation with the British Com
monwealth and the US.
Other points made by Dr. Evatt
included the following:
Although Australia was definitely
affected by European events her
stake in the Pacific was para
mount.
Australia's determination to par
ticipate as a party principal in
all International decisions af
fecting this area could not be
lessened without endangering
her future.
Like the UK. in relation to
lurope, Australia could not af
ford to be insular in the Pacific.
Any consideration of plans for the
joint use of any bases in Aus
tralla's dependent territories
should be preceded by an over
all defence arrangement for the
region of the Western Pacific,
including the islands formerly
mandated to Japan. Australia
should be entitled to reciprocal
use of foreign bases in the
region.
In bringing Australian mandated
territories under the trusteeship
system opportunity would be
taken to eliminate a negative
feature of the mandate system
which had proved a great dan
ger to Australia. Australia
would ask for the right to es
tablish bases in these territories
in the interests of security in
the S.W. Paciflc area.
Dr. Evatt said it was the provision
in the existing mandates prohibiting
fortification which helped to give
the Japanese such a great advant
age in the early stages of the Pacific
war.
Expressing the belief that Russia's
expansionist policy was directed to
wards self-protection against future
attack, Dr. Evatt said that suspicion
among the three major Powers was
not confined to suspicion of Russia.
It included suspicion by Russia aris
ing out of Russia's exclusion from
the Anglo-U.S. agreement on the use
of atomic energy.
Territory for Russia.
He recalled that during the crisis
of war Mr. Churchill and President
Roosevelt entered into agreements
giving Russia considerable territorial
gains in western Europe and in the
Par East. Most of those arrange
ments had been made by the U.K.
and the U.S. alone without prior re
ference to their Allies. They were
made primarily in the belief that
the Soviet would be a trusted and
peace-loving ally in peace as well as
in war. "Surely that belief is not
yet given up," Dr. Evatt said.
In his opinion the Soviet's desire
was to develop her economy and to
improve the welfare of her people.
Dr. Evatt said that Russia was al
most certainly- organising under
ground for future resurgence. Dif
ferences being accentuated by na
tions which had acted in almost
complete harmony during the war
represented a dangerous tendency
which could only lead to disaster if
unchecked. He referred particularly
to criticisms of the Soviet Union,
without whose magnificent contri
bution to victory over Hitler would
have been either long delayed or im
possible.
Dr. Evatt said that Fascist de
velopments in any one country
which were likely to cause a breach
of international peace were a matter
of concern to the Security Council
of the United Nations. In all these
cases first the facts and then the
remedies must be sought through the
United Nations, its Assembly and
the Security Council. Temporary
compromises had been made, but
the full facts had not been elicited.
Indonesian Demands.
Turning to the dispute caused by
Indonesian demands for self-govern
ment, Dr. Evatt said that Australia's
policy was to assist in the settle
ment of the dispute and discourage
acts of provocation and violence cal
culated to prevent a just settlement.
The .lines of a possible development
of this dispute, he said, were in
dicated in Article 73 of the United
Nations Charter, by which each
member had undertaken to assist
its dependent peoples to increase
their rights of self-government.
Under that article everything de
pended upon the stage of political
development which had been and
could be reached by the people con
cerned. The most recent proposals
of the N.EI. Government seemed to
mark a great advance towards a
satisfactory settlement. The Dutch
proposals were expressely based on
Article 73 of the Charter, and Aus
tralia's special representative in the
N.EL was doing what was possible
to assist the special British political
representative mediating between the
parties. Australia had a vital part
to play in the preservation of the
wartime friendship with the Dutch
in relation to the NE.I. At the same
time it was important to do every
thing possible to establish good re
lations with the Indonesian and
other dependent peoples of the world
who were advancing towards a far
greater degree of self-government.
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