US warns ANZUS allies of Soviet push in region

The United States warned Australia and New Zealand, its allies in the ANZUS pact, that the Soviet Union was trying to expand its interests in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The warning came in the first session of the 31st meeting of the ANZUS Council. At the meeting the US also expressed concern that its warships might be banned from South Pacific ports. ANZUS opposition labor parties oppose facilities for US nuclear-armed ships, and several South Pacific island nations have raised the possibility of banning nuclear ships as part of a policy to promote a nuclear-free pacific zone.