U.S. takes stronger line on A.N.Z.U.S.

Press, 18 December 1985, Page 31

U.S. takes stronger line on A.N.Z.U.S.

By

CHARLES ALDINGER

NZPA Reuter Washington

The United States has taken off the diplomatic gloves with New Zealand in an effort to make it back off a proposed ban on visits by United States nuclear warships. “There has been a decision to tell New Zealand strongly that defence and economic co-operation are at stake and that a treaty means full, not partial, cooperation,” an Administration official told Reuters. A Defence Department official said that while Washington did not need New Zealand’s four-frigate Navy or rights for United States ships to visit the remote South Pacific nation for its own security, “we want to remind allies that a treaty is a treaty." The State Department has said Washington would almost certainly cut New Zealand out of the A.N.Z.U.S. defence pact if Wellington enacted into law

its present policy of banning nuclear-ship visits.

- The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, introduced legislation for this in Parliament on December 10.

While continuing close defence co-peration with Australia, the United States in February cancelled A.N.Z.U.S. exercises, halted Intelligence-sharing with New Zealand and suspended naval manoeuvres in the area to signal its displeasure with Wellington’s policy. Washington officially has promised not to take economic revenge if the ban is formalised into law, but officials that suggested angry United States legislators might be unforgiving. One Pentagon official said New Zealand had more to lose from the row than the United States.

“What is going to happen the next time the United States lamb producers go to Congress and look for protection against New Zealand imports? Will people on the (Capitol) Hill still say: ‘Wait,

these are our allies and they need special treatment.’?; “I doubt it,” he said. Another Pentagon official said: “. . . There is not a chance in hell that we will give defence help — or any other help — to New Zealand as long as they ban the ships.”

Mr Paul Wolfowitz, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told New Zealand television in a recent interview that Wellington would lose its “influence and access” in Washington on trade matters.

Pentagon officials described the port visits to New Zealand as unimportant militarily but crucial as a symbol of allied unity in the three-way treaty. One United States Navy officer posed the question of whether New Zealand would suddenly change its mind and allow nuclear-ship visits in event of a war.

“We want that question answered now, not later,” he said.