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and a request to meet the Working Group to discuss those Protocols before too long. Sir Antony Acland said that when we did formally receive the Protocols we would need to study them in considerable detail. In principle we had no objection to NFZS as evidenced by our subscribing to the Protocols of the Tlatelolco Treaty. However the UK was a nuclear power and as such, in the absence of a comprehensive test ban treaty, recognized the need for nuclear tests by nuclear weapon states. It was therefore difficult for us to deny the French right to test and we would need to take account of this in the CHOGM communique. He asked Dr Harris whether the Australians had received any indications of an American attitude to the Treaty. Dr Harris explained that in bilateral contacts with the Americans, it had become clear that there were two American concerns. The first was on the free passage of nuclear-armed vessels, but this concern seemed to be diminishing. The second, and more serious, was the possibility that the US Trust Territories in Micronesia, when they gained independence, might wish to accede to the Treaty. This would present considerable strategic problems for the US, but overall Dr Harris was hopeful that they would sign.
C.
Pacific Issues
3. Replying to a question from Sir Antony Acland, Dr Harris confirmed Australian concern at the recent fisheries agreement between the Soviet Union and Kiribati, particularly because of the economic leverage the agreement offered the Soviets. leverage was increased because, as he understood it, the UK was pulling out of its aid agreement with Kiribati. Mr Thompson explained that, while the original independence agreement had foreseen an end to budgetary aid, it was the wish of the Kiribati Government to speed up its conclusion that was currently determining the rate of progress, not a change of attitude on the part of the UK. Britain was in any case maintaining its technical co-operation programme in Kiribati. Dr Harris confirmed that this was news to him. Moving on, he expressed some concern about reports that Vanuatu was considering a similar fisheries agreement with the Soviet Union and commented on the increasingly apparent split between the Melanesian and Polynesian states. In general he noted a slight increase in tension in the region, but no clear definition of Soviet goals.
4. Dr Harris said that the Australian Government was reasonably satisfied that the French were taking a sensible course in New Caledonia. They were a little concerned that, unusually, the French had not trained a local elite which would make the task of the new regional governments more difficult. He added that it was, in his view, unlikely that, even if the Opposition in France were to win the elections next March, the current plan would be changed. He also referred to the presence of Mr Uregei, the "Foreign Minister" of the FLNKS in the Vanuatu delegation at the UN and CHOGM. It was agreed that it was difficult to see what purpose his presence might serve, but it was unlikely to cause problems.
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