THE PRESS FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1987. National and nuclear ships

Press, 10 July 1987, Page 16

THE PRESS FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1987. National and nuclear ships

The restoration of New Zealand’s links with the United States through A.N.Z.U.S. lies at the heart of the National Party’s foreign affairs and defence policies, which were announced yesterday. This is a welcome and necessary concentration on a core issue facing New Zealand. But National faces no mean task in trying to reconcile all the aspects of the issue that it considers need reconciling. On the one hand it is faced with widespread anti-nuclear sentiment in New Zealand, and on the other hand it is faced with the demand of the United States that New Zealand accept nuclear-capable ships on a neither-confirm-nor-deny basis. Without the acceptance of ships from the United States, National knows, New Zealand will continue to be suspended from A.N.Z.U.S. But an open invitation that such ships visit, National knows, would anger a large number of New Zealanders. National’s solution is to accept the ships of allies but to ask them not to send ships carrying nuclear weapons and to trust them not to do so. National would also remove a number of clauses from the anti-nuclear legislation. In effect, this amounts to the position taken by a number of countries that request the United States not to bring nuclear weapons into their harbours, but allow the United States to neither confirm nor deny that a particular ship is carrying nuclear weapons. Such countries trust the United States to respect their anti-nuclear policies. But whether National’s policy would be sufficient to restore New Zealand to full membership of A.N.Z.U.S. is uncertain. Although the policy would place New Zealand in a position similar to that of a number of other United States allies, the United States

would be wary. It would know that the rift was highly likely to open again on the defeat of National. The United States might therefore demand an uncompromising commitment by New Zealand to nuclear defence before we regained a place in A.N.Z.U.S. National’s policy is hardly uncompromising and is hardly likely to gain the sort of strong support from New Zealand votes that would entrench it. Not that the political calculation behind the policy is difficult to read. The understandable intention is to accommodate the desires of a majority of New Zealanders not to have nuclear weapons in New Zealand’s ports but to remain part of A.N.Z.U.S. The pity of it is that this accommodation might not seem credible to either New Zealand voters or to United States policymakers. The policy might be sufficient to hold National Party supporters who have some doubts about welcoming nuclear ships. And it might neutralise the worries of those attracted to National on non-defence or non-foreign-policy issues. But the policy is unlikely to greatly swing political opinion. Both the voters of New Zealand and the United States Government are likely to consider that the time when subtle words could heal the A.N.Z.U.S. rift has passed. And there is another point of regret. National is not noted for the distinctness of its present policies in any field; a firmer view — that New Zealand would accept all United States ships without question — would have suggested that the party was decisive in its attitudes, was principled about fundamental issues, and was not prepared to trim to political winds.