Mitterrand Trip to A-Test Site Criticized : Australia, N. Zealand Call Planned Visit to S. Pacific Provocative

The governments of Australia and New Zealand today condemned as untimely and provocative a planned visit by President Francois Mitterrand of France to his country’s nuclear test site in the South Pacific.

Prime Minister David Lange of New Zealand said Mitterrand’s trip to France’s decade-long nuclear test site at Mururoa Atoll “could be aimed at promoting an even more vigorous and reckless campaign to counter the growing opposition to nuclear testing in the Pacific.”

“If this is so, it will only serve to harden the attitudes of those in the region,” he said.

The French president will preside over a meeting Friday of French civil and military officers at Mururoa Atoll.

Displeasure Conveyed

Australian Foreign Minister Bill Hayden summoned Bernard Follin, the French ambassador in Canberra, to convey his displeasure in the following statement:

“The Australian government and people considered this meeting to be highly provocative and contemptuous of countries of the South Pacific, including Australia, since the meeting was apparently designed to highlight the determination of France to continue nuclear testing in the face of universal and total condemnation of South Pacific governments.”

Speaking in Wellington, New Zealand, Lange also termed Mitterrand’s visit “provocative” and said, “President Mitterrand is no doubt making some important political point to his electorate in France.”

On Aug. 6, eight Pacific nations including Australia and New Zealand signed a treaty declaring the South Pacific a nuclear-free zone.

Appeal to Nuclear Powers

The countries appealed to the United States, France and Britain--the three nuclear powers with territories in the South Pacific--to agree not to use or test nuclear weapons in the treaty zone or dump nuclear waste.

Mitterrand’s visit comes amid a furor over the extent of French involvement in the sinking of the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior, which was to due to lead a protest flotilla to Mururoa Atoll. It was blown up in a New Zealand harbor July 10.

Two French secret agents face murder and arson charges in New Zealand for the sinking and police have issued arrest warrants for three others who fled to France.