The Guardian of Liberty - Nemzetőr, 1987 (10. évfolyam, 2-6. szám)
1987-09-01 / 5. szám
Puppet Bodies Strive to Influence Pacific Nations A ustralia's Foreign Minister, Bill Hayden, has spoken about the high level of Soviet-backed activity in South Pacific countries. The overseas service of Radio Australia recently reported him as saying that the USSR was recruiting and funding local activists, often through third parties to avoid any direct Soviet involvement. The minister said that criticism of fishing agreements between the USSR and Kiribati and Vanuatu was not justified but warned that other Soviet activities in the region had to be watched and combated. He added that Australia wanted to alert island countries to the problems that could arise if Soviet activities were not closely monitored. The Kremlin is making more frequent use of its front organisations to encourage support in the Asian and Pacific region for Soviet policies, especially its co-called "peace'1 campaigns. Four of the major front organisations — the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), of Prague, Czechoslovakia; the World Peace Council (WPC), of Helsinki, Finland; the Afro- Asian People's Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO) of Cairo; and the International Union of Students (IUS), of Prague - have been particularly active in the region. In August a meeting of the Asia and Oceanic Trade Union Co-ordination Committee (AOTUCC) opened in Manila. This body was set up in 1985 at a meeting in New Delhi sponsored by the WFTU. In June, an "International Conference on Disarmament and Development" was held in Quezon City, in the Philippines. This was cosponsored by the WPC, Moscow's principal front organisation; its affiliate, the Philippines Peace and Solidarity Council (PPSC); and the AAPSO. Also in June, the IUS sponsored a meeting in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, entitled "Student Cooperation for Peace, Security, Development and Democratic Education in Asia and the Pacific." In May a meeting was held in Haiphong, Vietnam, on the role of women in socio-economic development. Delegates came from the WFTU, the AOTUCC, the Soviet Union, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Thailand, Japan, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. The WFTU's 11th Congress was held in East Berlin from September 16 to 22, 1986, with representatives from Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua-New Guinea, Indonesia, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Kiribati. The World Peace Congress, sponsored by the WPC and held in Copenhagen from October 15 to 19, 1986, had delegates from the Solomon Islands, Fiji, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. All the front organisations claim to be independent of governments and other official bodies. In reality, they are tightly controlled by the Kremlin. Their main aim is to promote Soviet foreign-policy objectives. The WPC was formed as the result of a Soviet-arranged "World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace" held in Wroclaw, Poland, in 1948. In 1951 the French Government expelled the WPC from its first headquarters in Paris for having engaged in "fifth-column activities.’' The WPC’s President since 1977, having been Secretary-General since 1966, is Romesh Chandra, a member of the Central Committee of the Moscow-aligned Communist Party of India. The WFTU was also expelled from its original base in Paris in 1951, for participating in "subversive activities." It moved to the then Russian zone of Vienna but, after Austria had T he Japanese Defence Agency has called for more resources to strengthen its sea-based defence capabilities. The appeal, made recently in a White Paper on defence, was prompted by what the Agency describes as the “remarkable build-up of Soviet forces in the Far East.” The publication of the defence paper coincides with signs that the USSR is making strenuous efforts to promote its so-called “peace” campaign in the Asian and Pacific region. The paper noted that the USSR “appears to be giving serious thought to advancement in the Pacific Ocean”. It also stated that “it is obvious that the Soviet Union has been persistently strengthening its military might in the area around Japan in terms of both quality and quantity”. According to the paper, about 170 triple warheaded SS-20 nuclear missiles are based in Soviet Asia and could reach Japan in 10 minutes. New Backfire bombers, capable of carrying long-range cruise missiles, are also stationed in Soviet Asia. Two flotillas of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, Moscow’s largest, were cruising near Japan when the defence paper was released. The battle cruiser Frunze and three other ships were detected to the east of the La Perouse Straits, which separate Japan and the Soviet island of Sakhalin. The second flotilla, sailing through the Sea of Japan, included the aircraftcarrier Novorossiysk. Moscow Radio’s Japanese service on August 29 dismissed the White Paper as “more conspicuous anti-Soviet fabrications”. It said that the “major aim of the /White Paper’s] drafters utas to prove the existence of a Soviet threat. Since it is impossible to prove something that is non-existent, the White Paper could not but resort to making imaginary fabrications, distortions of facts and downright lies”. A similar Soviet response was made last January to an article in The Australian on the Russian naval and air base at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. In a letter to that newspaper, Valery Zemskov, Minister-Counsellor at the Soviet F.mbassy in Canberra, described the article as “fantastic”, adding that “there has never been such a base and never will it be established there.“ However, at a Press conference in Sydney in February, Admiral James Lyons, Commander-in- Chief of the United States’ Pacific Fleet, displayed aerial photographs showing the extent of the Soviet build-up at Cam Rahn Bay. The photographs, taken in December, 1986, revealed that regained her independence, it was ousted from there in 1956 for "putting Austrian neutrality in danger.” The USSR Supreme Soviet awarded the Order of Friendship among Peoples to the WFTU in 1975. Jiri Pelikan, the Czech former Secretary- General and President of the IUS, said in an interview published by the London New Left Review in January-February, 1972, that Soviet members regarded "the IUS and similar organisations merely as unofficial instruments of Soviet foreign policy." since 1975, when US forces withdrew from Vietnam, the USSR had added five piers to the existing two at the base. Also visible from the photographs were Soviet frigates, destroyers and three submarines capable of carrying nuclear-armed missiles, as well as groups of MiG-23 (Flogger) interceptors, Badger strike aircraft and Bear bombers. According to an article in the International Defence Review (IDR), 12/1986, published in Switzerland, Cam Rahn Bay is the largest Soviet naval base outside the USSR. The article, on Soviet ambitions in the Far East, mentioned the base’s ability to store 1.4 million litres of fuel. About 25 to 30 warships use the facilities there, as does a 15,000-tonne auxiliary designed to support the Pacific Fleet’s nuclear missile-armed submarines. Soviet aircraft at Cam Rahn Bay include about 14 MiG-23 Flogger fighters, at least five TU-142 Bear reconnaissance planes and about 12 to 16 TU 16 Badger bombers. The IDR article also noted the expansion of the Soviet base at Da Nang, Vietnam, and the Russian use of the naval base at Kompong Som and the airfield at Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Concern over the Soviet military build-up in the Asian and Pacific region is also being voiced by ASEAN countries. According to the Bangkok Nation of June 18, the Thai Foreign Minister, Siddhi Savetsila, said in a speech to the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of South-East Asia that Russian activities in the region contradicted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s words in his Vladivostok speech on Moscow’s peace initiatives. While welcoming increased Soviet interest in improving relations with ASEAN, the Nation noted that Siddhi was alarmed by the "steadily growing military presence and massive build-up in the Asian and Pacific region, particulaly the upgrading of Cam Rahn Bay." Siddhi said that the growing Soviet presence “could have a significant effect on ASEAN”. He added that Soviet activities in “bankrolling” Vietnam and supporting the Vietnamese military occupation of Cambodia made Gorbachev’s peace initiatives “more apparent than real”. According to recent West European reports, the USSR is using Kompong Som port to transfer arms and equipment to Vietnamese forces fighting (Continued on page 6) Military Build-up Worries Japan 5 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1987