SCRAP ANZUS?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403000005-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: May 16, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000403000005-3
JOHN HUGHES
Scrap ANZUS?
0 NE of the saddest little contretemps to afflict
the Western alliance is coming to a head.
It involves the relationship of the United
States with New Zealand, but also has significant ef-
fects on Australia. All three countries have long been
parties to the ANZUS treaty, a mutual-defense pact
now hanging by a thread as a result of recent actions
by the New Zealand government.
New Zealand might at first glimpse appear inconse-
quential in the scheme of international diplomatic and
defense strategy. Far off in the South Pacific, it is
tranquil, beautiful, prosperous, democratic; it does
not feel threatened; and it threatens nobody else.
Its population, descended mainly from the British,
is small, but that has not prevented New Zealanders
from leaving the security of their island paradise over
the years to defend their values and take on causes
they considered just. Thus New Zealanders wrote
proud chapters in far-off lands in World Wars I and H.
They were in Korea. And Vietnam.
They have cared about others in the Western alli-
ance, and others have cared about them.
Although they have long had sentimental ties with
Britain, the realities of shifting power after World
War II caused New Zealanders, with Australians, to
look increasingly to the United States for a military
alliance in the Pacific. Thus was the ANZUS alliance
born.
All this trickled along satisfactorily until the ad-
vent in 1984 of a new government in New Zealand
headed by Prime Minister David Lange. Mr. Lange
proclaimed traditional friendship with Washington.
He professed support for the alliance. But his party
championed an antinuclear policy. It was eager to bar
all nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships from New
Zealand's waters.
This posed a problem for the US, whose naval ves-
sels had traditionally made port calls in New Zealand.
An increasing number of American warships are now
nuclear powered. As to weaponry, the US has an
ironclad rule never to divulge which ships are carry-
ing nuclear weapons; to do so would give any enemy a
list of preferred targets.
The initial American tactic was to give Mr. Lange
time to work things out. American officials thought
they were getting signals from him that this was what
he wanted. Meanwhile, New Zealand officials were
given extensive background information on the acci-
dent-free record of American nuclear vessels. Eventu-
ally, the US offered up for a port call the destroyer
Buchanan, a vessel powered by conventional, not nu-
clear, engines. In keeping with its rule, however, the
United States would not confirm or deny whether the
Buchanan was carrying nuclear weaponry. New Zea-
land barred the visit.
Since then, the relationship has gone downhill.
While the US has been careful to assure New Zealand
that it is still a friend, it has been treating it less and
less like an ally. The US has suspended maneuvers
with New Zealand, cut it off from intelligence infor-
mation and virtually suspended defense ti .
The contends it cannot continue treating a na-
tion as an ally when it stops behaving like one. There
is also a deeper concern. If New Zealand is allowed to
bar American naval vessels with impunity, other na-
tions - Australia, Japan, and so on - might follow
suit. Such a ban would badly hinder the US Navy's
ability to operate around the world.
Now, however, Mr. Lange is apparently intent on
enacting legislation in August that would formally bar
visits by nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships.
The. United States has informed him that if that hap-
pens, it will scrap its 35-year-old defense commitment
to New Zealand.
That would be a sad development. Like any large
and rambunctious family, the Western alliance has its
ups and downs. But united defense of the values that
hold it together has worked pretty well against a vari-
ety of threats in an often dangerous world.
New Zealand should think again before it cuts itself
loose.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000403000005-3