Section 9. Other Parts of Southeast Asia and Oceania
1. Other parts of Southeast Asia
(A) There were important changes in the policies of various major powers toward the Southeast Asian countries partly because of the trend toward multipolarization of international relations; the international environment in Southeast Asia also changed greatly. Since the inauguration of President Nixon in 1969, the United States has carried out its new Asia policies based on the so-called Nixon Doctrine and has achieved epochal results in improving its relations with China, including the realization of President Nixon's visit to China. After the Cultural Revolution had come to an end and its diplomatic function had been restored in the spring of 1970, the People's Republic of China showed moves to form an anti-American united front with the other communist countries in Asia. However, it has intensified interchange with Southeast Asian countries since the spring of 1971, and its international position has risen remarkably for such reasons as the realization of its participation in the United Nations. In connection with the Soviet Union's Asian collective security plan being proposed since 1969, Soviet Premier Kosygin and General Secretary Brezhnev spelled out in their speeches in March 1972 four principles, namely, (1) non-use of arms, (2) respect for sovereignty and inviolability of frontier, (3) non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other countries and (4) development of cooperative relations on the basis of equality and reciprocity, and disclosed concretely the contents of the plan for the first time. The Soviet Union continues to promote political, economic and cultural interchange with various Southeast Asian countries.
(B) Under these circumstances, .Asian countries have come to aim for self-help, and the trend toward regional solidarity among them, such as the Ministerial Conference for the Economic Development of Southeast Asia, ECAFE and ASEAN, has also developed steadily.
The Southeast Asia neutralization plan proposed by Malaysian Premier Razak in September 1970 came to fruition in the form of a declaration on the neutralization of Southeast Asia at the conference of ASEAN foreign ministers in November 1971. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore also issued a joint statement on the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (November 1971) and clarified their opposition to international control of the straits. These moves can be taken as reflecting the sentiments of Asian countries that do not want to come under the influence of any particular great power. Ceylon's proposal for the declaration of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace can also be considered as part of such moves of the Asian countries.
(C) In Thailand, there was a political change in November 1971, Although it was a major change from the legal and institutional point of view which involved the suspension of the constitution and the dissolution of the Parliament, there was no change at all in the structure of political power, and there has been no basic change in Thailand's domestic and external policy lines so far.
2. Oceania
(1) In Australia, Prime Minister William McMahon (Liberal Party) took over the posts of premiership and presidency of the Liberal Party from former Prime Minister John Grey Gorton in March 1971 (the government continues to be a coalition regime of the Liberal Party and the Country Party). McMahon reshuffled the cabinet in August in which Minister for Foreign Affairs Leslie Bury and Minister for Defense J. G. Gorton (former prime minister) were replaced by former Attorney-General N. H. Bowen and former Education and Science Minister David E. Fairbairn, respectively. In the cabinet reshuffle, former Defense Minister John M. Fraser, who caused the resignation of former Prime Minister Gorton, joined the cabinet again as Minister for Education and Science.
There has been no basic change in the McMahon administration's domestic and external policies compared with those of the Gorton administration.
It has been decided to hold general elections before November 1972 and such domestic and diplomatic questions as economic policy, including unemployment and price measures, the urban problem and national security are expected to be major issues in the elections. It is said difficult to predict which party will win the elections.
The election of 100 new members of the House of Assembly of Papua New Guinea was held in February through March 1972.
In New Zealand, Prime Minister Keith J. Holyoake, who had been in power since 1960, resigned his post in February 1972, and Deputy Prime Minister John R,. Marshall succeeded him, while Minister of Finance Robert D. Muldoon assumed the deputy premiership, in order to prepare for the general elections at the end of 1972. Holyoake still retains the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs.
(2) In the diplomatic field, both Australia and New Zealand have followed basis policies of cooperating with the United States on the basis of the ANZUS Treaty, of promoting regional cooperation with Asian countries including Japan and also of maintaining solidarity with British Commonwealth countries. With regards to relations with the United States, Australian Prime Minister McMahon visited that country in October for consultations, out of Australia's realization that there was an urgent need to come to a better understanding with the United States and to coordinate their policies in the light of President Nixon's announcement of his plan to visit China at a time when there had emerged new factors in the security of Asia and Oceania, including the implementation of the Nixon Doctrine.
A major trend in the two countries' diplomacy is the rapidly increasing importance of Japan and the Southeast Asian countries in their diplomacy relative to the great fall in the importance of the British Commonwealth. Both countries strongly hope for the political and economic stability of the Southeast Asian area, and the importance of Southeast Asian countries in the diplomacy of the two countries can be understood when their geographic position, political and economic environment and national security are taken into consideration. In this context, it is worthy of note that Australia has come to play the central role under the defense arrangements among the five countries that became operational in November 1971.
As regards the China problem, Australian Labor Party President Edward Gough Whitlam visited China at the end of June 1971. Prime Minister McMahon, in a statement made in February 1972, stated that Australia wanted to open talks with the People's Republic of China to normalize their bilateral relations. New Zealand so far has made no concrete moves in this direction.