THE PRESS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1985. N.Z. repels its defence allies

Press, 18 December 1985, Page 20

THE PRESS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1985. N.Z. repels its defence allies

The New Zealand Government has become the victim of its own propaganda. The Government has been determined to reassure New Zealanders that the A.N.Z.U.S. alliance remains effective, in spite of drastic changes in New Zealand’s defence policies. To people outside New Zealand, and especially to the Governments of Australia and the United States — New Zealand’s former partners in the alliance — the proposition is absurd. To many New Zealanders, it is clear that A.N.Z.U.S. no longer offers any assurance of security to New Zealand. This country’s only significant allies have become wary.

Even the smallest Pacific States that once looked to New Zealand for leadership in their defence arrangements are distancing themselves from this country while they look for alternative arrangements. The Cook Islands Prime Minister has described his territory now as defenceless, thanks to decisions made by New Zealand, and on which the Cooks were not consulted. The King of Tonga has said American warships are welcome in his country’s ports, as a way of making clear that Tonga is not New Zealand.

The New Zealand Government persists in depending on a myth: that since the A.N.Z.U.S. treaty survives in form, because none of the signatories has given the notice required of an intention to withdraw, the treaty is still effective. Such an attitude is nonsense. The United States Government, including such senior spokesmen as the Secretary of State, Mr Shultz, have made it clear that, for practical purposes, the treaty is dead. It will continue to exist on paper, perhaps in the hope that one day a more sensible New Zealand Government may attempt to reverse the present policies. In the meantime, New Zealand can expect few of the benefits in defence, or as a voice in international affairs, that full A.N.Z.U.S. membership conferred.

However much New Zealand Cabinet Ministers may stump their way round the world, New Zealand’s voice has been reduced to a whimper without the backing of larger Powers. Military exercises may continue to be held, infrequently, with other States. Such exercises are unlikely to include much experience for New Zealand in its most vital defence requirements — the protection of this country and its seaborne trade from attack with the help of major allies. New Zealand will continue to seek expanded markets for its exports. Beyond Australia, no country now has any particular reason to look favourably on New Zealand.

In introducing the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Bill last week, the Prime Minister maintained that it was “wholly compatible with all of New Zealand’s international obligations.” Nonsense. The Government, in pretending that A.N.Z.U.S. survives, asserts that the United States should continue to be ready to come to the aid of New Zealand, but should not be permitted to use much of its armed forces to do so. If the bill becomes law in something like its present form, New Zealand will have made the task of the

United States in honouring its A.N.Z.U.S. obligations all but impossible.

The really objectionable part of this pretence is that the Government does not spell out what has to be, in logic, the real effect of disassociating New Zealand from the United States. If New Zealand wants to have no part in a war that concerns the United States, out of the perfectly reasonable fear of being embroiled in a ghastly nuclear war, New Zealand should say quite clearly that it will not answer a request under A.N.Z.U.S. for support from the United States — or for that matter, from Australia. So far, New Zealand has said, in effect, that it cannot usefully call on the United States for support in the event of an attack on New Zealand. It should logically acknowledge the other side of the coin.

Of course, the New Zealand Government does not show the other side of the coin because it must privately hope that the United States, in the last resort, would ignore the nuclear-ban argument and act in New Zealand’s favour. If the Government has no such private hope, it should be ready to concede that A.N.Z.U.S. is finished on both sides of the Pacific and tell the New Zealand public just so.

Mr Lange also said that the bill “is the Government’s response to the obligation placed on it to adopt and support responsible measures of disarmament and arms control.” Again, this is nonsense. The bill makes not a jot of difference to the number of nuclear weapons in the world. It makes no difference to the chances that those weapons may one day be used. If the bill has an effect, it is to increase, if only a little, the likelihood of war by introducing uncertainties into the South Pacific region. New Zealand is no longer a reliable ally of the West; the American presence in the South Pacific has been inhibited. It would be surprising indeed if other States with global pretensions did not see this as an opportunity to expand activities around New Zealand.

New Zealand may be able to get by if it plays the South Pacific Albania or Paraguay — too remote to be worth a second thought. Unfortunately, New Zealand will find it difficult to stay aloof from the real world. This country still retains something of the character of a prosperous farm in a hungry world. It remains one of the best stepping stones to the Antarctic in which the rest of the world is showing increasing interest. It remains a base off the vital east coast of Australia. New Zealand will continue to have value to others, even if it has no friends.

In sum, the new nuclear bill rigidly sets the inappropriate policies on defence matters by the Government in the last year. It also imposes on the Prime Minister the curious chore of announcing to the world whether he believes any foreign warship to be carrying nuclear weapons if it attempts to visit a New Zealand port. Such a requirement is an insult to countries such as the United States and Britain of whom New Zealand still pretends to be an ally. Small wonder will it be if former allies leave this country to go its own way, playing games with itself.