THE PRESS FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1985. Buying arms from the U.S.

Press, 9 August 1985, Page 16

THE PRESS FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1985. Buying arms from the U.S.

The delay over the contract with an American firm, Lear Siegler, to buy equipment to update New Zealand’s Skyhawk aircraft appears to be nothing more than the result of an oversight. The contract is worth about SNZI4O million, or about SUS 69 million. Under American law, no sales worth SUSSO million to any country can take place without Congress being given the opportunity to examine the sale. The statutory period allowed is 30 days. It seems likely that someone forgot that the deal could not be completed without Congress being given the chance to look at the sale. Hence there has to be a delay before the sale can be completed and delivery take place. The New Zealand Government, prudently, rather than expecting trouble, plans not to sign the contract until the 30 days have passed. The American law is called the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976-77. It enables Congress to veto any arms sale valued at more than SUSSO million. When it first came into force the export sale needed to be worth only SUS2S million. The law was introduced at a time when there was concern in the United States about sales of arms to countries which violated human rights. In one of the many twists of arms sales history, the main country causing concern because of the volume of its purchases and because of its violation of human rights — Iran — did not have its purchases of

arms reduced. Various countries have been considered improper customers for United States arms, but New Zealand has always been one of the approved countries. The State Department is supposed to refer any sale of arms worth more than SUSSO million to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Although the sale is referred, there is no need for the Congress to approve it, or even to consider it. The law simply gives the Congress the opportunity. When the United States took a number of measures against New Zealand because of the ban on nuclear ships, no ban was imposed on the sale of American arms to New Zealand. Had that occurred it would have proved devastating to New Zealand in the short term, because most of its military equipment is American and it needs both to keep its own equipment in good repair and to replace it from time to time. The equipment is also standardised with that of New Zealand’s major allies. There is the chance that someone in Congress will use the purchase of the Skyhawk equipment to make a point about New Zealand’s ban on port access, but the possibility seems remote. It is almost inconceivable that Congress would veto what is in effect a very small arms order from a country which shares most of the same concerns as the United States.