BALKY AUSTRALIA FREED OF MX TESTING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000503870005-7
• 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: February 7, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000503870005-7
BALTIMORE SUN
7 February 1985
Balky _
Austr i freed of MX testing
By Gilbert A. Lewthwaite'
Washington Bureau of The Sun
WHINGTON - The Reagan
admiAnisStration yesterday suddenly
freed Australia from its agreement
to provide support facilities for MX
missile tests, heading off a second
rapid-fire revolt within the ranks of
the major South Pacific alliance.
The rive came on the eve of a
meeting between President' Reagan
and Australian Prime Minister Rob-
ert Hawke, and followed New Zea-
land's refusal earlier this week to al-
low a port visit by a U.S. Navy de-
stroyer possibly carrying nuclear
arms.
It was a piece of diplomatic fi-
nessing, designed to limit the dam
age to the alliance of Australia New
Zealand and the United States
(ANZUS), to keep Australia firmly,
wedded to overall U.S. strategic pol-,
icies and to relieve Mr. Hawke -
basically a strong ally - of the bur-
den of having to renege on a bilater-
al agreement.
Had Secretary of State George P.
Shultz not decided to forgo Austra-
lia's commitment to provide backup
facilities for the MX testing, Mr.
Hawke, facing a political revolt
within his Labor Party over the MX
tests, was ready to cancel the agree-
ment anyway.
"That issue never came up," said
a smiling Mr. Hawke after lunching
at the State Department with Mr.
Shultz, who stressed the warmth of
both the political and personal
friendship with Mr. Hawke.
Mr. Shultz said the two had re-
viewed* the MX missile testing pro-
gram, and the U.S. side, aware of the
concerns inside Australia, had volun-
teered to find other ways of monitor-
ing the tests in the Tasman Sea with-
out relying on Australian facilities.
Two days ago in Brussels, Mr.
Hawke told Australian journalists
traveling with him that he had decid-
ed to opt out of the MX agreement,
originally made by his Liberal
predecessor, Malcolm Fraser. The
agreement was leaked to the press
in Melbourne in the wake of New
Zealand's defiance and created an
immediate furor.
New Zealand's defection from the
alliance's basic undertaking to fa-
cilitate port calls by allied shipping
- because the United States refused
to say if the destroyer Buchanan was
nuclear-armed - brought a stern
warning Tuesday from the adminis-
tration that such action would not be
cost-free.',
Administration officials yester-
day indicated that the direct repris-
als were likely to be limited to such
securi ty-oriented areas as in elli-
_eence swapping and military aid
One senior official described New
Zealand as "an inadequately func-
tioning ally," but added, "We are not
in a punitive or sanctioning mode."
Mr. Shultz said yesterday: "We
have a great deal of affection for the
people of New Zealand, but we also
remind them that those who value
freedom have to be willing to be pre-
pared to defend it."
He said the United States and
Australia would work out "in due
course" how and when to "move for-
ward."
In New Zealand, Labor Prime
Minister David Lange said that New
Zealand's determination to remain a
nuclear-free country would not
weaken under U.S. pressure.
On Capitol Hill, Senator William
S. Cohen (R, Maine) suggested that
the pressure should include econom-
ic as well as security measures.
A confrontation with Australia
would have been of a more dramatic
dimension that the spat with New
Zealand. Australia 9rovides the
United States with one of its most
sensitive spy-satellite tracking sti -
,tions, a key link in its submarine
communications system and a stag-
ing post for B-52 trauun flights
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000503870005-7