NEW ZEALAND ENVOY URGES NONNUCLEAR TIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504850050-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 50
• Publication Date: March 3, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504850050-8
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WASHINGTON POST
3 March 1985
New Zealand Envoy
Urges Nonnuclear Ties
Plan Called `New Base Line' for Relations
By Don Oberdorfer
' rr Washington Post Staff Writer
New Zealand Ambassador Wal-
[ace Rowling says his government
',etas offered to increase its nonnu-
clear military activities in the Pa-
cifc to compensate for withdrawing
'.from nuclear weapons arrange-
`.~ments with the United States.
Rowling said in an interview that
such a plan could be part of "a new
base line" for continuing coopera-
-tive relations between the two
'' btintries, which have slumped
since New Zealand refused to
per-mit a port call by a U.S. warship on
:66 'grounds that it might be carry-
I'ng nuclear weapons.
We gave an indication this [con-
?entional military activity] would be
Ctie way we would like to go," Row-
'~ Iqg said, but he said U.S. officials
trdd not seem interested.
_9'Rowling, a former leader of the
-"New Zealand Labor Party that
-turned policy against nuclear ship
port calls after its election victory
last July, said the chances are "nil"
;,that the party will reverse its non-
nuclear stand. He also said there is
"no way the government is going to
Come down on this issue." The next
New Zealand election would not be
expected until late 1987 under usu-
ral+political timetables.
The Reagan administration has
maintained that New Zealand's re-
:fusal to accept nuclear-armed U.S.
.;strips is a breach of the military al-
',liance relationship set forth by the
1951 ANZUS (Australia, New
Zealand, United States) Treaty.
-Early last week, the State Depart-
ment informed New Zealand Prime
Minister David Lange that it is
drastically curtailing military coop-
eration and intelligence sharingbe-
tween the two countries.
Secretary of State George P.
Shultz has told Congress that the
ANZUS alliance is not being formal-
ly abrogated, but indicated that it
will be maintained in an inactive sta-
tus' while the dispute continues:
Some U.S. officials have cast doubt
on whether the traditional midsum-
mer meeting of the ANZUS council,
which involves the foreign minis-
ters and other high officials of the
three treaty allies, will be held this
year.
Rowling took sharp issue with a
report that New Zealand had
threatened to "retaliate" against the
United States by reducing its, mil-
itary activities in the Pacific. He
said any thought of retaliation
would be "ludicrous" and likened it
to "a flea biting an elephant's back-
side."
Lange was simply describing, re-
alities, the ambassador said, when
he said in a speech in Los Angeles
Tuesday that diminished U.S. se-
curity cooperation with New
Zealand would "diminish our capac-
ity to go on playing a role" in the se-
curity of Southeast Asia and the
South Pacific. "We intend to con-
tinue to fulfill our responsibilities"
for security in the region, Rowling
said.
In the period ahead, Rowling
said, "We'll be constantly reminding
the United States that there is a se-
ries of counterproductive effects" to
the quarrel with New Zealand over
nuclear matters. "If you want to stir
up a nationalistic fervor in a coun-
try, you couldn't do a better job,"
Rowling said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504850050-8