THE PRESS THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1985. N.Z. left to play by itself

Press, 18 July 1985, Page 16

THE PRESS THURSDAY, JULY 18, 1985. N.Z. left to play by itself

A year after the election of the Labour Government, the advantages of the Government’s defence policies are becoming evident. With the A.N.Z.U.S. agreement reduced to a shell, Australia and the United States have been able to develop a much closer relationship. Talks in Canberra this week — what should have been the A.N.Z.U.S. Council talks — showed New Zealand could vanish from the alliance without either of the other members exhibiting more than polite regret. Without the restraint of the weakest and most awkward member of the alliance, Australia and the United States have been able to get on with working out how best the South Pacific can be defended.

Other countries in the South Pacific have also gained. A scatter of smaller States have enjoyed visits by American warships. The American Secretary of State, Mr Shultz, on his way home from Canberra, found time to visit Fiji, where he was warmly received. Under the dual impetus of New Zealand’s defection and the growing Soviet interest in the South Pacific, the independent islands find themselves being wooed by the United States with offers of aid and with a more sympathetic attention to their concerns about such issues as fishing agreements. The Government might argue that the policy of reducing New Zealand’s commitment to A.N.Z.U.S. was designed to benefit New Zealand, rather than please this country’s neighbours and former allies. So far, however, the benefits have not emerged. Left to play by itself, the Government sometimes seems to enjoy basking in the conviction that to assert that the country is “nuclear free” is to guarantee such freedom indefinitely. In the light of recent events in Auckland, it might find equal comfort in a declaration that this country is “terrorism free.”

Even to make such a comparison should be a reminder that any attempt to isolate New Zealand from less pleasant matters elsewhere is an illusion. In spite of the ban here by visits from nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed warships, the southern Pacific region has seen an increasing nuclear presence in the last year. The United States is looking to its own interests; the Soviet Union is expanding its naval activity as it turns Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam into a major base; France appears ready to intensify its Pacific presence in the face of uncertainty about the future of New Caledonia.

These are events over which New Zealand no longer has any influence. Absent from the Canberra meeting through its own actions, New Zealand can no longer expect to be listened to with the old warmth by the two countries with which it has long enjoyed the closest defence associations. From Canberra came a warning from Mr Shultz that New Zealand could be pushed further into the background if the Government presses ahead with legislation to give force to the ban on nuclear ships. Instead, the empty New Zealand chair at Canberra should be causing serious rethinking on the part of Mr Lange and his colleagues. To be ignored as an irrelevancy is demeaning enough for this country. To persist in trying to provoke an angry response — from the United States or any other Western country — is plain silly. In trade, as in defence, New Zealand has never been more in need of friends. New Zealand’s new policies have brought benefits to others; they have done nothing for New Zealand. An enduring policy for this country can hardly be built on the hope of gratitude because we have picked up our bucket and spade, and gone to sulk in a sandpit. Others seem to be getting on with the game without us, and enjoying it even more.