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First published December 1988

New Zealand's Role in Promoting a Nuclear-free Pacific

Abstract

The election of the Fourth Labour government in 1984, the imposition of a ban on nuclear powered/ armed ship visits to New Zealand and the passage of the New Zealand Nuclear-free Zone Act in 1987 represented the culmination of eleven years of campaigning by the New Zealand Peace Movement in collaboration with the New Zealand Labour Party, the Social Credit League and the Values Party. The unique structural features of this development are outlined and attention is paid to the evolution of anti-nuclear orthodoxy in New Zealand. There is an analysis of the extent to which New Zealand's experience is transferable to other countries and the necessary preconditions for the 'Kiwi disease' to spread elsewhere International political reactions to the ship ban are outlined and a brief evaluation made of its significance for disarmament, arms control and confidence building.

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1. If the government chose to make an assessment of whether these planes were carrying nuclear weapons each time they landed in New Zealand the Unted States had given warning that they would terminate Antarctic cooperation with the New Zea land Department of Scientific and Industnal Research. Since the government believes that those planes flying to Antarctica are constrained by the 1957 Antarctic Treaty which prevents any nuclear activity it was considered reasonable to provide a blanket clearance to the aircraft of the airlift command. This loophole to an otherwise cate gorical rejection of nuclear weapons worries some sections of the peace movement but is considered essential by both local and national government to retaining an active New Zealand presence in Antarctica
2. Schultz and Lange met for discussions at the 1986 Council Meeting of the ASEAN group. Lange was told by Shultz that the United States could not adhere to New Zealand's nuclear-free desires, and that there would be occasions when United States naval vessels would ('not might') be carrying nuclear weapons It was from this meeting that Schultz announced that New Zealand and the United States must part company as allies while remaining friends.
3. Wayne Brittenden, a New Zealand journalist based in Copenhagen reports that when the USS Iowa visited Copenhagen in September 1985: 'The com manding officer was asked by the press why he refused to reveal whether his ship was carrying nuclear weapons. For security reasons he explained. Did he know of the Danish law pro hibiting entry of nuclear armed ships? He did. Then surely, by bnnging his ship into a Danish port, he was giving a clear signal to the Soviets that it couldn't possibly be nuclear armed. That is unless it was breaking the law. He didn't comment' (Brit tenden 1986, pp. 13-15; quoted in White 1987, p. 13).
4. Information gained from Frank Corner, former Sec retary of Foreign Affairs, January 20, 1986. Corner attended the meeting between the Prime Minister and Gayler and was 'astonished that such a request was made, given that there was no suggestion from the United States that such a visit take place.' When he asked the Prime Minister why he had requested such a visit he was told 'To show the protest move ment who is in control now'!
5. This statement actually reflected Lange's position rather more than that of the Labour party. The Labour party had argued for the exclusion of nuclear-armed/powered warships from New Zealand. Lange tried to draw a distinction between nuclear armed and nuclear propelled (New Zealand Herald, March 30, 1983). Jim Anderton, the Party President, argued very strongly that nuclear-free meant exactly that, no nuclear-powered or nuclear- armed warships must have New Zealand ports as a base no matter what flag they fly (The Press, May 14, 1983). This position was reflected at the Party Conference in 1984 and was the trade-off for accept ing the Rowling compromise on ANZUS. It was argued by the Left of the Party that if withdrawal from ANZUS was politically unacceptable, then they would accept a review as long as there was an unequivocal rejection of nuclear weapons which would precipitate the end of ANZUS anyway.
6. The text of the telegram was obtained by Peter Hayes under the United States Freedom of Infor mation Act.
7. United States Ambassador Paul Cleveland, for example, told the Defence Enquiry Committee on March 5,1986 that the United States had no alterna tive but to 'punish' New Zealand for its anti-nuclear stance, because it threatened other more critical parts of the United States alliance, particularly Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. The United States had to make an example of New Zealand as a disincentive to other nations that might choose to develop a similar anti-nuclear policy (author's personal notes).
8. See The Press, May 13, 1987 for a United States report on the extent to which past New Zealand admimstrations adopted a totally submissive atti tude to the United States on nuclear and strategic issues within the ANZUS framework.
9. Information obtained from discussion with Mr. Bruce Middleton, Minister, New Zealand Embassy, Tokyo, December 12, 1987. He also informed me that New Zealand's standing in Tokyo had dropped dramatically since 1985, with the result that New Zealand contributions to political and security discussions tended to be ignored whereas in the past they had been considered attentively. While not too much emphasis should be placed on this personal perception it does indicate something of the diplomatic difficulty of transmitting a mess age at variance with dominant alliance orthodoxy.
10. Admiral Fieldhouse, for example, insisted that anti nuclear policies were detrimental to British as well as United States interests. While it is difficult to establish collusion between Washington and Lon don in relation to a joint policy of trying to persuade New Zealand to change its policy, there is no doubt that the United States tried to influence New Zea land through Great Britain, e.g. by inviting British ships to exercise in the Rimpac exercises and excluding New Zealand. Britain itself sought to embarass New Zealand by not inviting the New Zealand Navy to exercise in Global 86 naval exercises. The United States quite rightly under stood that British opposition to New Zealand might be more influential than United States concern because of older sentimental attachments. While this would have been a correct interpretation ten or fifteen years ago, it is much less so now as memories of the Second World War and British Imperial preference, etc. fade. Details on private discussions between Fieldhouse and Lange are derived from personal discussions with the Head of the New Zealand Prime Minister's department, Dr. John Henderson, May-June 1986.
11. Formal French acknowledgement of responsibility for the bombing in the form of reparations of $3,700,000 to Greenpeace and $13,000,000 to the New Zealand government were made in October 1987.
12. Comments made at United Nations University and Soviet Academy of Sciences Seminar on Peace and Security in the Asia Pacific Region, April 1985, in response to the present author's paper on New Zealand's relations with the United States, United Kingdom and Pacific Island states (later published as Clements 1985).

References

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Article first published: December 1988
Issue published: December 1988

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Kevin P. Clements
Department of Sociology, University of Canterbury

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