The
Australia, New Zealand, United States Security
Treaty (ANZUS or ANZUS
Treaty) is the military
alliance which binds Australia and
New
Zealand
and, separately, Australia and the United States
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 defense of one or both nations often have joined
the annual ministerial meetings, which are supplemented by
consultations between the U.S. Combatant Commander Pacific and the
Australian Chief of Defence Force. There are also regular civilian
and military consultations between the two governments at lower
levels. Annual meetings to discuss ANZUS defense matters take place
between the
United
States Secretary of State and the
Australian Minister for
Foreign Affairs (AUSMIN).
The most recent AUSMIN meeting took place in
Washington
in April 2009.
Unlike
NATO
, ANZUS has no integrated defense structure or
dedicated forces. Nevertheless, 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 defense 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, when Australia had come under attack by a foreign power,
Japan
, for the first time in its history.
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 September 1, 1951, and entered into force on
April 29, 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 stated 'The
Parties will consult together whenever in the opinion of any of
them the territorial integrity, political independence or security
of any of the Parties is threatened in the Pacific'. The three
nations also pledged to maintain and develop individual and
collective capabilities to resist attack.
Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam and The War on Terror
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.
As part of the United Nations deployment, New Zealand and Australia
had earlier fought alongside the United States in the Korean War.
Later New Zealand 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 engineer troops to Iraq during the
2003 invasion.
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 United States released the new
Prime Minister
Bob Hawke of the
Labor Party from this obligation
after the agreement attracted significant criticism from the Left
faction of the Labor Party.
New Zealand bans Nuclear Material
In 1985, the nature of the ANZUS alliance changed significantly.
Due to a current of anti-nuclear sentiment within New Zealand,
tension had long been present between ANZUS members as the United
States is a declared nuclear power.
France
, a naval
power and a declared nuclear power, had been conducting nuclear
tests on South Pacific Islands. Following the victory of the
New Zealand Labour Party in elections in 1984, Prime Minister
David Lange barred
nuclear-powered or
nuclear-armed ships from using New Zealand
ports or entering New Zealand waters. Reasons given were the
dangers of nuclear weapons, continued French 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 essentially refused access to New Zealand ports
for all United States Navy ships. 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 bombs. According to
opinion polls taken before the 1984 election, only 30 per cent of
New Zealanders supported visits by US warships with a clear
majority of 58 per cent opposed, and over 66 per cent of the
population lived in locally declared nuclear free zones. An opinion
poll commissioned by the 1986 Defence Committee of Enquiry
confirmed that 92 per cent now opposed nuclear weapons in New
Zealand and 69 per cent opposed warship visits; 92 per cent wanted
New Zealand to promote nuclear disarmament through the UN, while 88
per cent supported the promotion of nuclear free zones.
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. However, David Lange did not withdraw New
Zealand from ANZUS, although his government's policy led to the
US's decision to suspend its treaty obligations to New
Zealand.
An opinion poll in New Zealand in 1991 showed 54% of those sampled
preferred to let the treaty lapse rather than accept visits again
by nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered vessels.The policy did not
become law until June 8, 1987 with the passing of the
New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act
1987, 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
treaty obligations to New Zealand.
On July
10, 1985, the French DGSE
bombed the Greenpeace
protest vessel Rainbow Warrior
in Auckland
. This event strengthened opposition in New
Zealand of the military application of nuclear technology in any
form. 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 change in foreign and defense policy. New Zealand distanced
itself from its traditional ally, the United States, and built
relationships with small South Pacific nations, while retaining its
good relations with Australia, and, to a lesser extent, the United
Kingdom.
September 11, 2001 Attacks
Australia
and New Zealand both provided military units, including special
forces and naval ships in support of the US led "Operation Enduring Freedom"
(support for anti-Taliban forces in the
Afghan
civil war in
response to the September 11,
2001 terrorist 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 then 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 meeting, in San Francisco in 1986, the United States announced that it 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. 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.
Australia is also a contributor to the
National Missile Defense
system.
In May 2006, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and
Pacific Affairs,
Christopher
Hill, described the New Zealand anti-nuclear issue as "a
relic", and signalled that the US wanted a closer defense
relationship with New Zealand. He also praised 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.
While there have been signs of the nuclear dispute between the US
and NZ thawing out, pressure from the United States increased in
2006 with U.S. trade officials linking the repeal of the ban of
American nuclear ships from New Zealand's ports to a potential
free trade agreement between the two
countries.
On February 4, 2008, U.S.
Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced that the United States
will join negotiations with four Asia–Pacific
countries: Brunei
, Chile
, New Zealand and Singapore
to be known as the "P-4".
These nations already have an FTA called the
Trans-Pacific Strategic
Economic Partnership and the United States will be looking to
become involved in the "vitally important emerging Asia-Pacific
region" A number of U.S. organizations support the negotiations
including, but not limited to: the
United States Chamber of
Commerce,
National Association of
Manufacturers,
National Foreign Trade
Council, Emergency Committee for American Trade and Coalition
of Service Industries.
See also
References
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