Tuesday, 16 March 2010

• ANZUS TREATY TO SECURITIZE SOUTH PACIFIC

   
  THE trilateral Anzus Treaty binding Australia, New Zealand and the United States in a military alliance is all but dead - and has been since the mid-1980s. But a new initiative seems set to recast relations.

  Anzus dates from 1952 and is an outcome of the common interests and close cooperation among the three countries in World War II. It was originally focused on forging a united response to any attacks in the Pacific region, but appears to have evolved later to cover global threats.

  Washington suspended its treaty obligations to New Zealand in 1986 after Wellington denied port access to nuclear- armed or nuclear-powered US naval vessels. Military relations have since been conducted on a bilateral basis: Australia and the US maintain firm ties, and a similarly strong relationship separately bonds Australia and New Zealand.

  The severing of security links between Washington and Wellington was absolute but for one exception: joint signals intelligence activity under a programme known as Echelon that involves Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the US. New Zealand's contribution is thought to centre on the Government Communications Security Bureau's satellite communications interception station at Waihopai and radio communications interception station at Tangimoana.

  The US characterised New Zealand as 'a friend but not an ally' from 1986 onward. Tensions began to dissipate after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the US. Wellington deployed special forces and naval vessels in support of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and was also involved in Iraq's reconstruction.

  'It's now a more substantive relationship (with the US) than it was,' New Zealand Defence Minister Wayne Mapp told The Straits Times. And it looks to strengthen further.

  US President Barack Obama has, since coming to office, quietly ordered a review of Washington's policy towards New Zealand, with a result expected this month or early next year. The US State Department declined to discuss the issue. But Dr Mapp, who had a meeting just a few days earlier with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on the sidelines of a security conference in Halifax, provided some clues.

  'We're looking forward to the outcome of the review, which we understand will lead to improvements in the (military) relationship - particularly around training. What doesn't occur at the moment is unit and sub-unit training,' he said.

  'Both countries realise that events that caused us to split somewhat occurred 25 years ago. The world has moved on, and I think we've moved beyond Anzus. No one is really suggesting a restoration of the Anzus alliance in the sense of that formal document. It's really a more contemporary relationship (we're looking at).'

  New Zealand went through a similar rough patch with France, the other major power with a permanent presence in the South Pacific, and bilateral relations have been going through a similar rapprochement.

  The spat with Paris also dates from the mid-1980s and was also tied to nuclear issues. It centred on the sinking in Auckland harbour of the Rainbow Warrior by agents of the French external intelligence agency, with the loss of one life. A flagship of the Greenpeace environmental group, the Rainbow Warrior was at that time preparing to disrupt a French nuclear test at Moruroa atoll.

  'The re-engagement with France started about five to seven years ago, and certainly for me and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, it's a productive outcome. We saw that with the (September Samoan) tsunami, actually,' said Dr Mapp.

  The French armed forces deployed aircraft from New Caledonia and French Polynesia in support of relief operations, together with naval assets.

  'We are starting to engage with France a lot more around their regional security capability, particularly in humanitarian relief, patrols and surveillance,' said Dr Mapp.

  France, like the US, looks placed to retain a reasonably substantial military and political presence in the South Pacific for some time to come. This points to the need for Wellington to reach an accommodation with each of the countries under separate processes that have been gathering steam.

  ST per Robert Karniol 12-07-09
  

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