ANZUS BICKERING NO LONGER JOKING MATTER FOR LANGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000200760007-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: September 3, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200760007-3
WASHINGTON TIMES
ANRICLE WUM 3 September 1985
ON PACA 0-h .--
bickering
no longer joking
matter for Lange
By Tom Breen
wan nUs
In March, New Zealand's prime
minister was in a joking mood.
Asked if he was upset by Washing-
ton's angry reaction to his decision
to ban US. warships from New Zea-
land ports, Prime Minister David
Lange replied, "If they really want
to [unnerve] us, they should cut off
'Dallas' and the 'A-Team.
Nobody, including Mr. Lange, is
laughing now.
"New Zealanders are concerned
that the United States is getting the
impression that we're all anti-
American down here since the rift,'
Bob Fox, editor of the Wellington
Evening Post said yesterday. "Noth-
ing could be further from the truth.
Few of us feel that way."
Still, the unlikely feud between
the United States and its tiny South
Pacific ally has threatened the sta-
bility of the 34-year-old ANZUS
defense pact among Australia, New
Zealand and the United States, creat-
ing a rift Washington never envi-
sioned and one that confuses
Americans because of the longtime
and close relationship between the
two nations.
"What this squabble has done;'
said one congressional foreign-
affairs specialist, "is to upset the
entire ANZUS applecart. Sure, New
Zealand only has 3 million people
and defense forces of 12,000, but the
US. obviously is having a lot of prob-
lems in the world today and can't
afford to lose a South Pacific friend,
big or little. Everyone is upset,
because most people feel that New
Zealand has no beef with us:"
At the same time, said the special-
ist and several others interviewed
recently, New Zealand can little
afford to jeopardize its security pact
with either the United States or Aus-
tralia. Out fire
in the South Pacific
1300 miles from Australia _ it is vul-
nerable and needs aetess to S. and
A
as well as orotect#!P dtbtlld a crisis_
US. policy dictates that no nuclear-
____
armed or revesse
M
described that way, the United States
a stov short o severe sanc-
tions but has cut ocut off-the oow of ~mteT-
enc information.
The deteriorating relations
recently have begun to disturb a
wide range of New Zealand officials,
including Mr. Lange, who later this
month will send an emissary to
Washington in an attempt to patch
things up. Further, Mr. Lange indi-
cated early last week he was willing
to relax his position on banning war-
ships, in order to restore New
Zealand-U.S. ties.
Meanwhile, State Department
officials are encouraged, spec-
ulating that an end to the six-month
freeze might be coming shortly.
Such optimism, however, might be
premature, The Washington Times
interviews indicate.
Despite Mr. Fox's contention that
his countrymen generally are fond
of Americans, there appears to be a
growing anti-nuclear fear across
New Zealand that eventually may
strain relations with the United
States and possibly Australia to a.
point they can't be repaired.
Said a spokesman for moderate
Republican Sen. William Cohen of
Maine, "The senator feels like a lot
of people here [on Capitol Hill]: With
New Zealand impairing the way the
ANZUS alliance functions and being
recalcitrant, we [the United States]
should exercise our options.
Frankly, New Zealand's [newly]
relaxed position seems nothing
more than a subtle rhetorical shift:'
Many congressional liberals and
conservatives support Mr. Cohen's
view that the U.S. obligation to
defend and trade with New Zealand
should end if that nation continues to
balk on its ANZUS obligations,
which includes allowing U.S. ships
into its ports.
Moreover, argue experts and poli-
ticians in the United States, New
Zealand anti-nuclear activists
should be directing their wrath at
France, not the United States.
France, the only nation to conduct
recent nuclear tests in the South
Pacific, has been implicated in the
bombing and sinking of the Green-
peace ship-Rainbow Warrior.
The he htened anti-nuclear
activity,:hi^ever. appears to have to
transformerd=Jilt4nations with such
capabilitW ipto ;enemies, of sorts,
for many New Zealaziders.
Said activist Philadel Bunkle: "We
[want] to gge~tt a message across that
times [1ia'vd]' changed. People don't
feel partidularly protected [by
superpowers), and the old argu-
ments have worn a little thin:'
Added Labor Party member
Helen Clark: "There are no threats
to New Zealand's security. The only
nation that has sufficient military
projection to invade us is the United
States, so were not that worried:'
With that-- in mind, the anti-
nuclear wing' of Mr. Lange's Labor
Party moved in Christchurch over
the weekend to persuade the prime
minister not to soften his stand on
the ban of US. warships, although
most diplomatic sources expect Mr.
Lange to continue moving Wward an
understanding withrWoshington.
For his part, Australlin Prime
Minister Robert Hawke has tried to
end the U.S.-New Zealand squabble
by making sure that a treaty signed
by South Pacific nations last month
to make the South Pacific a nuclear
free zone still would allow the transit
of nuclear-powered and nuclear
armed warships through the region.
That would end France's nuclear
testing but would protect U.S. secu-
rity interests.
Mr. Hawke and others - in Wash-
ington and throughout the South
Pacific - admit they are tired of a
feud that no one expected.
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200760007-3 -