ANZUS

The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS or ANZUS Treaty) is the military alliance which binds Australia and the United States, and separately Australia and New Zealand to cooperate on defense matters in the Pacific Ocean area, though today the treaty is understood to relate to attacks in any area.

Treaty structure

The treaty was previously a full three-way defence pact, but following a dispute between New Zealand and the United States in 1984 over visiting rights for nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered ships of the U.S. Navy in New Zealand ports, the treaty no longer applies between the United States and New Zealand, but is still in force between either country and Australia, separately.

The US-Australia alliance under the ANZUS Treaty remains in full force. Heads of defence of one or both nations often have joined the annual ministerial meetings, which are supplemented by consultations between the U.S. Commander in Chief Pacific and the Australian Chief of Defence Force. There also are regular civilian and military consultations between the two governments at lower levels. Annual meetings to discuss ANZUS defence matters take place between the United States Secretary of State and the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (AUSMIN). The 17th AUSMIN meeting took place in Adelaide in November 2005.

Unlike NATO, ANZUS has no integrated defence structure or dedicated forces. However, in fulfillment of ANZUS obligations, Australia and the United States conduct a variety of joint activities. These include military exercises ranging from naval and landing exercises at the task-group level to battalion-level special forces training, assigning officers to each other's armed services, and standardizing equipment and operational doctrine. The two countries also operate several joint defence facilities in Australia, mainly ground stations for early warning satellites, and signals intelligence gathering in South-East Asia and East Asia as part of the ECHELON network.

History

Origins

The treaty came about following the close cooperation of the United States, Australia and New Zealand during World War II, during which time Australia had come perilously close to invasion by Japan. Following the end of World War II, the United States was eager to normalize relations with Japan, particularly as the Korean War was still raging a short distance from Japan. With the involvement of China and possibly the Soviet Union in Korea, the Cold War was threatening to become a full-scale war. However, Australia and New Zealand in particular were extremely reluctant to finalize a peace treaty with Japan which would allow for Japanese rearmament. Both countries relented only when an Australian and New Zealand proposal for a three-way security treaty was accepted by the United States.

The resulting treaty was concluded at San Francisco on 1 September 1951, and entered into force on 29 April 1952. The treaty bound the signatories to recognize that an armed attack in the Pacific area on any of them would endanger the peace and safety of the others. It committed them to consult in the event of a threat and, in the event of attack, to meet the common danger in accordance with their respective constitutional processes. The three nations also pledged to maintain and develop individual and collective capabilities to resist attack.

It is interesting to note the treaty itself was not a source of debate for 30 years, though in this period New Zealand and Australia committed forces to the Malayan Emergency and subsequently the ANZUS nations fought together in the Vietnam War.

Malaya, Korea, and Vietnam

New Zealand also fought alongside the United States in the Korean War and Vietnam, and sent transport aircraft, maritime patrol aircraft and frigates to the Gulf, as well as a very small number of soldiers, SAS soldiers, medical and assorted and peace-keeping forces in Afghanistan — and despite Prime Minister Helen Clark being openly critical of American justifications for the war, New Zealand did send engineers and troops to protect them to Iraq. An opinion poll in New Zealand in 2001 ^* showed 54% of those sampled preferred to let the treaty lapse rather than accept visits again by nuclear-armed/powered vessels.

Australian reservations about the MX

In 1983, the United States approached Australia with proposals for testing the new generation of American intercontinental ballistic missiles, the MX missile. American test ranges in the Pacific were insufficient for testing the new long-range missiles and the United States military wished to use the Tasman Sea as a target area. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal Party had agreed to provide monitoring sites near Sydney for this purpose. However in 1985 the new Prime Minister Bob Hawke of the Labor Party withdrew the offer of assistance after protests from within the Left faction of the Labor Party.

New Zealand bans nuclear ships

In 1985, the nature of the ANZUS alliance changed significantly. Tensions had long been present between Australia, New Zealand and the declared nuclear powers the United States and France which had conducted nuclear tests on South Pacific islands. Following the victory of the New Zealand Labour Party in elections in 1984, Prime Minister David Lange created policy which barred nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships from using New Zealand ports, citing the dangers of nuclear weapons, continued nuclear testing in the South Pacific, and opposition to US President Ronald Reagan's policy of aggressively confronting the Soviet Union. Given that the United States Navy refused to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard ships, these laws in effect refused access to New Zealand ports for all ships of the United States Navy. In February 1985, a port-visit request by the United States for the USS Buchanan was refused by New Zealand, as the Buchanan was capable of launching nuclear depth charges.

It is important to note that this policy did not become law until 8 June 1987 with the passing of the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act. This was more than two years after the Buchanan was refused entry after the USA refused to declare the presence or absence of nuclear weapons, and a year after the USA suspended its own treaty obligations to New Zealand.

On 10 July 1985, the French DGSE bombed the Greenpeace protest vessel Rainbow Warrior in Auckland. This event strengthened the nation's resolution to oppose in any form the military application of nuclear technology. The failure of Western leaders to condemn what could be considered an act of war on New Zealand by France caused a great deal of foreign and defence policy change. A History Of New Zealand, Professor Sir Keith Sinclair KBE, Penguin Books, New Zealand, 1991New Zealand distanced itself from its traditional ally, the United States, and built relationships with small South Pacific nations, while retaining its excellent relations with Australia, and to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom.Nuclear Free: The New Zealand Way, The Right Honourable David Lange, Penguin Books, New Zealand,1990

The United States suspends ANZUS obligations to New Zealand

After consultations with Australia and after negotiations with New Zealand broke down, the United States announced that it was suspending its treaty obligations to New Zealand until United States Navy ships were re-admitted to New Zealand ports, citing that New Zealand was "a friend, but not an ally". The crisis made front-page headlines for weeks in many American newspapers, while many American cabinet members were quoted as expressing a deep sense of "betrayal". It is still often incorrectly stated that David Lange withdrew New Zealand from ANZUS — he had however done no such thing; his government's policy led to the US's decision to suspend its treaty obligations to New Zealand, but it was a decision of the US government.

While the crisis with navy visits was prominent, the United States proved to be more forgiving of Australia's refusal to assist with the Peacekeeper missile. Fearing the total collapse of the ANZUS treaty, the US government decided to accommodate Australian domestic politics, particularly after NATO countries and other allies such as Japan showed little interest in taking a similar stance against nuclear weapons such as the Pershing missile.

September 11, 2001 Attacks

Whilst Australia and New Zealand have fought alongside the United States before the treaty signing including in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and elsewhere the ANZUS treaty's provisions for assistance when a member nation comes under threat were officially invoked for the first time by Australia after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Australia and New Zealand both provided military units, including special forces and naval ships in support of the US led Operation Enduring Freedom, the military response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

East Timor

Between 1999 and 2003 the armed forces of Australia and New Zealand deployed together in a large scale operation in East Timor, to prevent pro-Indonesian Militia from overturning a vote for independence and conducting ethnic cleansing on the island. The United States provided only limited logistical support. The operation was taken over by the United Nations.

Taiwan

One topic that became prominent in the early 2000s are its implications in the case of a hypothetical attack by the People's Republic of China against Taiwan with the ROC (Taiwan) receiving American support. While Australia has strong cultural and economic ties with the United States, it also has an increasingly important trade relationship with mainland China.

In August 2004, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer implied in Beijing that the treaty would likely not apply to that situation, but he was quickly corrected by Prime Minister John Howard. In March 2005, after an official of the People's Republic of China stated that it may be necessary for Australia to reassess the treaty and after the PRC passed an Anti-Secession Law regarding the ROC, Downer stated that in case of a PRC attack on the ROC, the treaty would come into force, but that the treaty would require only consultations with the United States and not necessarily commit Australia to war.

The Alliance today

Annual bilateral meetings between the US Secretary of State and the Australian Foreign Minister replaced annual meetings of the ANZUS Council of Foreign Ministers. The first bilateral meeting was held in Canberra in 1985. At the second, in San Francisco in 1986, the United States and Australia announced that the United States was suspending its treaty security obligations to New Zealand pending the restoration of port access. Subsequent bilateral Australia-US Ministerial (AUSMIN) meetings have alternated between Australia and the United States.

The alliance engenders some political controversy in Australia. Particularly after Australian involvement in the 2003 Iraq war, some quarters of Australian society have called for a re-evaluation of the relationship between the two nations. Nonetheless the alliance enjoyed broad support during the Cold War and continues to enjoy broad support in Australia. ^*" target="_blank" >One commentator in Australia has argued that the treaty should be re-negotiated in the context of terrorism, the modern role of the United Nations and as a purely US-Australian alliance. [http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=2140

Australia is also a contributor to the National Missile Defense system. [http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/releases/2003/fa151_03.html

The value of the alliance was again questioned when a new US Ambassador arrived to take up his post in Wellington, New Zealand, in 2005. In his first speech on the topic of NZ-US relations the Ambassador referred to the ANZUS treaty repeatedly as "Anzoo". Some commentators questioned how the Ambassador might know much about the alliance if he couldn't name it properly.

In May 2006, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Christopher Hill, described New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation as "a relic" but also signalled that the US wanted a closer defence relationship with New Zealand and praising New Zealand’s involvement in Afghanistan and reconstruction in Iraq. "Rather than trying to change each other's minds on the nuclear issue, which is a bit of a relic, I think we should focus on things we can make work" he told an Australian newspaper. ^*

Trivia

An exhibit commemorating the past and present of the ANZUS Treaty is located at the Pentagon. Known as the "ANZUS Corridor", it is located on the second floor of the A-ring, between Apex 1/2 and Apex 3/4. The break down of the NZ-US relationship was dramatised on film by Greg McGee in the movie "Fallout".

External links

Text of the ANZUS Treaty
Australia and the ANZUS Crisis - chronicles the near-death experience of ANZUS in 1985
Will New Zealand ever rejoin ANZUS?
ANZUS classroom activities (NZHistory.net.nz)
Secret Power, New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network; Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, NZ; ISBN 0908802358; 1996 (ONLINE EDITION)

Sources

Cold War treaties | Foreign relations of Australia | Foreign relations of New Zealand | Military alliances | United States treaties

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