CONFIDENTIAL
National Party. When I appeared before the all-Party Parliamentary Foren Affairs Committee, for example, I was quizzed by both Nato and Labour Party Members on why the British and French strategie deterrents should not be included in the current arms control negotiations. Views on nuclear issues represent something of a aleidoscope across the political spectrum. The Labour leader David Lange, spoke to me in scathing terms about the nuclear disarmers, maintaining that their views were rejected by "provincial New Zealand" which comprised the bulk of the electorate, whereas, his Deguty and former Prime Minister Sir Wallace Rowling is promoting nuclear free zones" throughout the country. one for a number of issues on which Mr Lange, elected to the leader shippoply a few months ago, seemed out of step with the activists of h Party.
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12 held detailed talks with senior foreign affairs officials in both Wellington and Canberra and they welcomed the opportunity of exchange of views on a wide variety of topics. In both capitals there was considerable emphasis on the importance of the Law of the Sea Treaty and some pressure for us to sign. There was also intense interest in Hong Kong on which I spoke to my brief I found full acceptance of the sensitivity of the negotiations with China and no one I spoke to seemed disposed to cause embarrassment. Their one concern was that we should be able to secure the right outcome. I heard a number of anecdotal accounts of the flow of Hong Kong investment funds and attempts by Hong Kong Chinese to buy themselves or their children a bolt-hole in Australia,
13. Looking to the future, there is a strong case for reasonably frequent ministerial visits to New Zealand, and, more particularly, Australia. Despite the distance and the fact that the two countries' combined
population is only 18 million, they remain disproportion- ately important to the UK as export markets and sources of invisible earnings. Political ties are strong, as are other links, and their Ministers are frequent visitors to London. As for the South Pacific Conference, I would recommend that in future years we continue the practice of ministerial attendance provided the venue is reasonably accessible and provided also that no other ministerial visits to the Pacific Islands are scheduled at around the same time.
17 October 1983
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Ray Whitney.
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