244. Telegram From Secretary of State Vance’s Delegation to the Department of State and the Embassy in Australia1
Secto 10015. For S/S. Secretary’s Bilateral With Australian Foreign Minister.
1. Summary: Secretary met September 29 with Australian Foreign Minister Peacock. During 25 minute discussion, Peacock focussed on Indian Ocean talks between US and USSR,2 saying that any agreement which emerged from talks which seemed to limit US ability to defend Australia would cause GOA serious political problems. He called for joint efforts to allay any Australian domestic criticism. The Secretary assured the FonMin that Australian concerns would be taken into account in these talks. Peacock asked for US support in joining the London Suppliers’ Group. The Secretary said he would try to determine at what stage the US would be able to push for such membership and would inform FonMin. In a discussion of the forthcoming UNCTAD meeting, the Secretary termed it vital that specific issues be addressed on which concrete progress be made; he urged that machinery be established for coordinating US-Australian policies for the UNCTAD meeting. ASEAN, China, SALT and East Timor were also discussed during the meeting. End Summary.
2. The Secretary met with Australian Fon Min Peacock in New York morning of September 29. Australian Assistant Secretary for IO Douglas Campbell, UN Ambassador Ralph Harry, and Assistant Secretaries Holbrooke and Maynes participated.
3. Indian Ocean talks: The FonMin said he wanted to focus on only a few key issues with the Secretary since he would be talking at length later with Holbrooke. A fairly critical problem was the US-USSR talks on the Indian Ocean. Ambassador Renouf had already had useful discussions on this issue with Paul Warnke and Les Gelb, but the FonMin wanted to stress the degree to which the talks could become a political problem in Australia. Chiefly at issue was the line delineating the eastern limits of the Indian Ocean. If this line included the west coast of Australia, the agreement would be seen in Australia as restricting [Page 799] the ability of the US to protect Australia’s security. This would give the GOA serious political problems, particularly from the military establishment and from Western Australia, which is a conservative state. We must have time, the FonMin said, to work this out together so that the talks do not involve any threat to Australian security. In particular we must take steps to disarm criticism, such as running joint US-Australian exercises on the west coast and having occasional US statements reaffirming the US defense commitment to Australia.
4. The Secretary said he was fully sympathetic to Australia’s views and would make every effort to meet its concerns. He said that the talks would go very slowly. At the last round in Washington, the Soviets had demanded that we dismantle our Diego Garcia facilities, a condition to which we could not agree. For this and other reasons, the negotiating process will be very slow. The FonMin said he was pleased to hear this. He did not want to “pester” the Secretary on this issue, but anything which gave the impression that US was not taking Australian interests into account in Indian Ocean talks would pose serious political problem for GOA.
5. London Suppliers’ Group: FonMin raised Australia’s interest in joining the London Suppliers’ Group, noting its recent decision to export uranium, its strong committment to non-proliferation, and its active role in the IAEA. He felt that US support for Australian membership “at appropriate time” was in effect a signal to Australia that it was being asked to “forebear” for the time being. The Secretary said the immediate question was solving the guideline problem.3 He promised to have his staff determine a specific time when we could go forward actively in support for Australian membership and would report back to the FonMin.
6. China: The FonMin asked for a run-down of US-PRC relations. The Secretary said that he had met last night with Huang Hua.4 As for normalization, we had explained to the Chinese the problems we faced at home and asked them to be sensitive to these problems. We listened to their views and while we reaffirmed that our goal was normalization, we did not seek any specific agreements. The Secretary told the FonMin that we have a number of issues to get through Congress, and it would be difficult for us to tackle normalization and the Panama Canal Treaty at the same time. We will continue to pursue the dialogue, but chiefly through our Liaison Office in Peking. The FonMin said he had talked in New York to Hua, who evidently wanted [Page 800] to use the Australians as a conduit to the US side. In answer to a question from Holbrooke, the FonMin said he felt that Huang was somewhat more “unpleasant” on the normalization issue than he had been last year and had focussed more pointedly on the Taiwan issue. In any event, FonMin said that the PRC was showering Australia with attention and was obviously trying to upgrade its relationship.
7. East Timor: The FonMin said that we must keep in close touch on the East Timor issue. Holbrooke said that the Indonesians understand that they have no real problem with the administration on this issue, and that their differences are with Capitol Hill. In answer to the FonMin’s question, the Secretary noted that this issue will complicate our military aid to Indonesia but not our economic assistance.
8. ASEAN: The Secretary had opened the bilateral with an expression of appreciation for the FonMin’s long letter to him on ASEAN,5 which he and his staff had found useful and thought-provoking. The FonMin asked about the results of Cooper’s meeting in Manila.6 Holbrooke said we and the ASEAN nations viewed it as an important first step toward a new relationship with the US. The FonMin said that the “vibes” he had received from ASEAN diplomats on the meeting were very good. He was glad that the US was taking note of the new cohesiveness in ASEAN and was prepared to deal closely with it. The Secretary said that in his discussion with Malik he had reaffirmed US intentions to play an important role in Asia and to work closely with ASEAN. In this regard, the FonMin saw that Australia attached importance to the Lee Kuan Yew visit to the US since he would be an important channel for carrying US views to other ASEAN nations.7 Holbrooke noted that the Hussein Onn visit had gone very well, the bilateral with the President had lasted much longer than the time allotted,8 and it was clear that the Malaysians were impressed with our intention to stay involved in Southeast Asia.
9. SALT: The FonMin asked about SALT developments. The Secretary said that progress had been made during three meetings with Gromyko; he was confident that the agreement could be reached on the secondary issues that remain. He had asked Paul Warnke to go to Geneva at the end of the week and to work on these issues.
10. UNCTAD: The FonMin asked whether the Secretary saw any prospect for progress at the UNCTAD talks scheduled for November. The Secretary said the G–77 had to make up their minds about where [Page 801] they wanted to go. Decisions should be made to pursue certain concrete goals, otherwise nothing will be accomplished and there will be widespread dissatisfaction. The FonMin said the Australians had not clarified in their own minds what they wanted at the November meeting. The Secretary agreed that a clear-cut policy was necessary; he asked Holbrooke and Maynes to establish machinery for consulting with the Australians on our preparations for the UNCTAD meeting.
11. Human Rights at the UNGA: Campbell asked what the US hoped to achieve on human rights at the UNGA. The Secretary said the US may push for the establishment of the post of Commissioner for Human Rights; we had doubts, however, that the proposal would meet with any success at this session.9 Maynes noted that the Australians had been very helpful to us on this issue and somewhat more progress had been made than had been expected. The Soviets, nevertheless, view the issue as one of East-West confrontation and have refused to lend any financial support to such a post. A decision on whether we actually make the Human Rights Commission proposal will be made in November, following further study and consultations.
12. The FonMin closed the meeting with a plea for close and continuing US-Australia consultation, particularly on the Indian Ocean and the London Suppliers Group issues.
- Source: Department of State, Office of the Secretariat Staff, Records of Cyrus Vance, 1977–1980, Lot 84D241, Nodis Memcons, 1977. Secret; Immediate; Exdis. Sent for information to Wellington, Port Moresby, London, Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and the Mission in Geneva. Vance was in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting.↩
- The second round of U.S.-Soviet talks was held in Washington September 26–30. See Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. XVIII, Middle East Region; Arabian Peninsula, Document 115.↩
- Reference is to the guidelines for export of nuclear materials agreed to by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. XIII, China, Document 62.↩
- See Document 240.↩
- Cooper attended the U.S.-ASEAN Dialogue. See footnote 5, Document 196.↩
- See Documents 199 and 200.↩
- See Document 195.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, vol. II, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Document 94.↩