MX tests without Australia

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 1

MX tests without Australia

NZPA-AAP Washington The United States decided yesterday to conduct its MX missile tests without Australian support after the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, warned that concern in Aus-

tralia about the issue had the potential to damage "central elements” of United States-Australian relations. The United States decision to let Australia off the

hook on the MX tests was conveyed by both sides as the result of an .amicable exchange of views between two old friends, .Mr Hawke and the Secretary of State, Mr George Shultz, rather

than a necessary face-sav-ing exercise. Insistence by the United States that Australia adhere to its original decision to support the tests would have left Mr Hawke facing

the possibility of humiliating censure in the Australian Labour Party caucus, and created the . circumstances for confrontation between the two allies with serious implications for A.N.Z.U.S. This was to be avoided at all costs by a United States Administration already concerned about the so-called “ripple effect” flowing from the New Zealand Government’s decision to ban nuclear-ship visits, and at home seeking approval from a reluctant Congress for continued spending on the MX programme. Mr Hawke and Mr Shultz announced the decision in a joint statement which noted that Mr Hawke had raised community concerns in Australia about Australia’s role in monitoring the MX tests.

That- role, approved by the Cabinet National and International Security Committee, was the provision of facilities in Sydney for United States aircraft to observe splashdowns of MX

warheads in the Tasman Sea, designed to test the long-range missiles’ longrange accuracy. The joint statement went on to note: “The United States side brought out that there are a variety of ways to monitor an MX test and that the monitoring effort needs not involve the provision of Australian support.” The other big issue raised at yesterday’s talks was the threat to the future of the A.N.Z.U.S. defence pact after the New Zealand Government’s decision to ban visits by United States nuclear-capable warships.

Officials said later that the treaty would continue, although a number of undisclosed options for future defence co-operation, including a replacement for the cancelled A.N.Z.U.S. Sea Eagle naval exercise, had been discussed. At a brief news conference with Mr Shultz after

their talks Mr Hawke emphasised that Australia’s commitment to the A.N.Z.U.S. alliance remained “undiminished.” Earlier, a senior State Department official told journalists at a White House briefing that there was “no comparison” between the New Zealand stance and Australia’s concerns about the MX tests. While there was some spillover between anti-

nuclear forces in each of the two countries, they revolved round different issues, and the political viewpoints of the two Governments were different.

“In the case of the ship visits we are talking about something that is really at the very core of our military interaction with allies,” he said.

The official said the New Zealand ban was the reason

why the United States had withdrawn from the Sea Eagle exercise, even though the proposed ship visit rejected by the Lange Government was to have taken place afterwards.

“When that sort of exercise takes place our ships ought to be able to visit the port of this country 12,000 miles from the United States which they might some day come to protect,” he said.