DEMOCRATIC REGIME. BUT IT IS A MATTER OF READING THE PLAY AS IT UNFOLDS. I AM NOT SETTING ANY CONDITIONS, CERTAINLY I AM NOT PURPORTING TO MAKE ANY SUCH SUGGESTION ON BEHALF OF MY HOST GOVERNMENT HERE TODAY. IT IS REALLY JUST A MATTER OF, I REPEAT, WAITING AND HOPING.
QUESTION
WHAT ABOUT RECOGNITION OF THE SAW MAUNG REGIME?
SENATOR EVANS
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WELL, THAT IS NOT A QUESTION THAT ARISES FOR AUSTRALIA BECAUSE WE RECOGNISE STATES RATHER THAN GOVERNMENTS. WE HAVE ABANDONED THE APPALING DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED IN DETERMINING WHOM YOU RECOGNISE, WHEN, BECAUSE OF THE CONNOTATIONS OF APPROVAL AND DISAPPROVAL THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT AND WHICH MOST COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD HAVE FOUND THESE DAYS, IMPOSSIBLY COMPLICATE ALREADY DELICATE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS SO WE ARE NOW IN THE BUSINESS OF RECOGNISING STATES. THE SITUATION DOES NOT ARISE.
QUESTION
SENATOR, ON THAT SAME POINT, WOULD AMBASSADOR LAMB BE APPLYING ANY SORT OF PRESSURE UPON THE RANGOON AUTHORITIES?
SENATOR EVANS
ON THE CONTRARY, AMBASSADOR LAMB IS BEHAVING WITH ALL THE TACT AND DISCRETION ONE NORMALLY ASSOCIATES WITH AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMACY ALL AROUND THE GLOBE.
QUESTION
WHAT SORT OF INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE COULD BE PUT ON BURMA?
SENATOR EVANS
I AM NOT SURE THAT ANY KIND OF PRESSURE MAKES SENSE AND GREAT POWER PRESSURE MAKES THE LEAST SENSE OF ALL. THE ONLY KIND OF PRESSURE. IS THE NORMAL PRESSURE THAT I HOPE PREVAILS AS A RESULT OF NATIONS AROUND THE WORLD SHARING A COMMON VIEW THAT DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS ON THE WHOLE ARE PREFERABLE TO MILITARY ONES. A VIEW THAT IS, OF COURSE, COMPREHENSIVELY NOW ACCEPTED IN THIS COUNTRY. WE JUST HOPE THAT THAT PLUS THE OBVIOUS ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES THAT EXIST IN THAT COUNTRY WILL BRING PEOPLE TO THE POINT OF FOLLOWING THROUGH THAT PROCESS BUT NO MORE OVERT PRESSURE THAN THAT IS, I THINK APPROPRIATE, AND I THINK THAT IS ACKNOWLEDGED GENERALLY WITHIN THE REGION TO BE THE CASE.
QUESTION - INDISTINCT (ON APPLYING PRESSURE ON BURMA).
SENATOR EVANS
YOU ARE READING FAR MORE INTO MY EARLIER ANSWER AS FURTHER
DEVELOPED BY A LATER ANSWER THAN I THINK, THE TEXT WHEN YOU READ IT, WILL JUSTIFY, SO I HAVE NOTHING TO ADD TO THOSE EARLIER ANSWERS.
QUESTION
WHAT HOPE IS THEKE OF AUSTRALIA GETTING THAT TELECOM CONTRACT?
4.
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