TNAG-1255-FCO40-1588-Third-countries-and-the-future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 48

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These disturbing trends have continued, and in some respects they have worsened, since Melbourne. But, partly because they have, there is now, perhaps, a greater awareness of the dangers they constitute and a heightened sense of urgency to reverse them - concerns which have been prominent in the opening days of the current Session of the UN General Assembly.

In my consultations leaders have underlined a variety of particular issues: the continuing problems in West and East Asia; self-determination and denuclearisation in the South Pacific; the Falklands; and such special concerns as Cyprus and Belize. All these and more will be in the minds of Commonwealth leaders and will inform the political discussion. But a wider anxiety has been the overall deterioration in the environment of international security and the particualr intensification of East-West tensions. Each of the Commonwealth's different regions has suffered to some degree in the prevailing climate of confrontation, suspicion and insecurity.

Commonwealth leaders at New Delhi will not wish to enter the maze of specific technical disarmament issues, but may see value in sharing their thoughts on paths leading away from militarism and towards internationalism and common security. At Melbourne, Commonwealth leaders emphasised that - "As an association of aligned and non-aligned states, the Commonwealth was uniquely well placed to make a susbtantial contribution to defusing international tensions in a divided world". New Delhi will be a timely occasion for Commonwealth leaders to explore how best they might make that contribution.

Nowhere has the decline in internationalism been more in evidence than in the erosion of confidence in the conciliatory role of the United Nations. In his 1982 Report and again in his 1983 Report the United Nations Secretary-General has called on nations to return to the spirit of the Charter and to take urgent steps to restore confidence in the world organisation as a means of maintaining international security. The Commonwealth's many small states have a particular interest in fulfilment of the Charter's promise of collective security; but all states would gain. Heads of Government may wish to consider how the Commonwealth can help this process of renewal.

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Southern Africa

The Commonwealth has a special concern with the problems of Southern Africa, including Namibia's independence. Commonwealth leaders will wish to review the continued frustration by South Africa of the United Nations' efforts to resolve the Namibian question. They may also wish to explore the prospects of a Commonwealth contribution to international efforts to bring Namibia to independence, bearing in mind the special roles of Commonwealth Frontline African States and Commonwealth members of the Western Contact Group.

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