Five-nation army exercise

Press, 15 November 1984, Page 12

Five-nation army exercise

The army exercise to be held in Canterbury next week and the week after involves troops from five countries, but will be a low-key affair. It falls into two parts, neither of which requires any troops to be deployed on the ground. The first part, which will be held from Wednesday until Friday, is formally known as a tactical exercise without troops; the second part, which will run from the Saturday to Wednesday, November 28, is a command post exercise. Battlefield simulation techniques will be used. New Zealand will have 60 troops taking part, Australia will have 50, the British Army in Hong Kong 60, Malaysia will send 54, and Singapore 30. The exercise is a regular one under the Five-Power Defence Arrangements. The land exercises usually alternate between New Zealand and Australia. The group’s maritime exercises are held in the South China Sea. Air exercises are usually held in Malaysia. The Five-Power Defence Arrangements form one of the very few international defence commitments New Zealand has. The main one is A.N.Z.U.S. The Manila Pact is still in existence, but the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation, which was set up to implement the Manila Pact, has been disbanded. The FivePower Defence Arrangements relate to the defence of Malaysia and Singapore. Under the agreement, if there is any externally-organised or supported armed attack or threat of attack against Malaysia or Singapore, the five Governments undertake to consult together for the purpose of deciding what measures should be taken, jointly or separately. The Five-Power Defence Arrangements succeeded the AngloMalaysian Defence Treaty which came to an end in 1971. A joint Australian, New Zealand, and United Kingdom force known as A.N.Z.U.K. was then set up. Britain withdrew its forces in March of 1976. New Zealand left ground forces in Singapore. Australia has some ground troops, a squadron of'Mirages, and an Orion aircraft at Butterworth in Malaysia.

During his recent visit to Singapore, the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, gave assurances to the Singapore Prime Minister, Mr Lee, that the New Zealand troops would stay in Singapore. His thinking was influenced strongly by the need to demonstrate that New Zealand remains a fully-committed member of the Western Alliance, despite the ban on the visits of nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered warships to New Zealand ports. Of the five members of the F.P.D.A., Britain is a nuclear power and the Government has yet to face the possibility of embarrassment if the British request a visit of a warship to New Zealand and, like the Americans, refuse to confirm or deny whether it is carrying nuclear weapons. However, since the maritime exercises of the F.P.D.A. are held in the South China Sea, the possibility of an embarrassment in a F.P.D.A. exercise is negligible.

Various reasons have been advanced at various times to justify the stationing of New Zealand troops in Singapore. The most compelling reason at present is that Singapore wants them there, just as Malaysia wants the Australian troops and squadron in Malaysia. Just by being there the troops and the airmen are believed to lend an air of stability and to be a constant reminder that Singapore and Malaysia have links to other countries. The troops and the airmen are few in numbers and there is no sense in which they could be said to be distorting the economies of either Malaysia or Singapore. The stationing of the troops in Singapore, the regular visits of Australian and New Zealand naval units to Malaysia and Singapore, the occasional air exercise, and the occasional army exercise such as the one which will begin next week, demonstrate that New Zealand continues to regard the security of Singapore and Malaysia as important for the whole region as well as important because of the long and traditional links among New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Britain.