Robin Cook, Britain's new Foreign Secretary, today issued his Mission Statement of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at a press conference, the first time any government has made public its intentions in the realm of foreign policy.

The Mission Statement says among other things:

'We shall work through international forums and bilateral relationships to spread the values of human rights, civil liberties and democracy which we demand for ourselves.'

In his statement at the press conference, Robin Cook elaborated further on the policy, saying:

'Our foreign policy must have an ethical dimension and must support the demands of other peoples for the democratic rights on which we insist for ourselves. The Labour Government will put human rights at the heart of our foreign policy and will publish an annual report on our work promoting human rights abroad.'

On arms exports, he said: 'The Labour Government will give a new momentum to arms control and disarmament.'

What is remarkable about the massive coverage today of Cook's initiative on television and radio is that in virtual every comment, discussion and interview, Indonesia has been mentioned as the concrete of example of where this new policy should apply, particularly with regard to halting arms sales, accompanied on TV by shots of the 1991 Dili massacre and Indonesian police forces bashing demonstrators in Jakarta. It does indeed appear that Indonesia is now regarded in Britain as the world's leading pariah state. The transparency in announcing the Cook agenda has put the Suharto regime on centre stage.

However, Cook has refused to be drawn on anything specific about which countries will be affected. Much stress has been placed on the need to seek international or EU agreement on arms controls against specific countries, avoiding a situation where other countries could step in and fill orders which the UK decides to reject. This could mean considerable delay in taking firm decisions with regard to specific deals already concluded. It will not be easy to win Helmut Kohl and Jacques Chirac over to a Europe-wide embargo or a decision to halt certain types of weapons to Indonesia.

The policy could flounder if the Labour Government declines to take the lead in these matters.

Arguments about the need to preserve jobs and maintain earnings from arms exports which is still one of this country's top foreign exchange earners have also been injected into the discussion.

It is clear that campaigning against arms exports to Indonesia will intensify in the coming months. The way has also been paved for pressure on the new government to take a firm position on violations of human rights in Indonesia and self-determination for East Timor, hopefully tipping the balance at the European Union in favour of a much stronger position as well.

One conclusion is that all the campaigning against arms sales, especially by Campaign Against Arms Trade and a variety of arms groups like 'Stop the Hawks' and the Ploughshares women, during the dark ages of Tory rule are now paying off.