Life after ANZUS

Abstract : In 1985 the newly elected New Zealand Government declared a policy banning the visits to New Zealand ports of nuclear armed or powered ships. This action effectively closed New Zealand's ports to all U.S. warships as the U.S. refused to alter its policy of neither confirm nor deny in relation to the carriage of nuclear weapons on naval ships. The U.S. and Australia protested vigorously to New Zealand but to no avail. As a result the provisions of the ANZUS Treaty in relation to New Zealand were suspended. The Treaty is now a lame duck and its future unknown. This paper examines Australia's regional position and the elements of its national strategy: economic, political socio- psychological and military. American and Japanese regional involvements are also considered in the light of the reduction in Superpower tensions and economic strength. The paper concludes that a geographic dislocation exists in the main military element of Australia's national strategy, the ANZUS Treaty, and that Australia's security is reduced as a consequence. To address this weakness a new security arrangement based on a Non-Aggression Pact and extending to include Japan and America as well as Australia's nearer neighbors is suggested.