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ANZUS:
A Preview of Things to Come?
T
he 34-year-old ANZUS
alliance is still intact. Yet
!he source of its
endurance-the mutual trust
among its partners
(Australia, New Zealand and
the United States) - is being
brought into doubt.
Much has changed since
the treaty was signed
September 1, 1951. The
fears of an earlier generation
and the unity that comes
from being comrades in arms
have diminished.
Al the heart of the
disagreement has been a
growing concern in the two
nations down under that not
In January of this year. the
prime minister refused port
call privileges to the USS
Buchanan.
lt should be noted
that nowhere in the text of
the ANZUS treaty are
specific contributions such
as access to ports
mentioned.
The U.S. response was
guarded. Washington
obviously wanted to avoid a
"David versus Goliath" type
confrontation with New
Zealand .
Yet no sooner had this
inciden! jarred U.S. officials
than another blow occurred.
In an abrupt about-face,
signing of the U.S.
Declaration of lndependence
in 1776. Noting the danger
he and his fellow signatories
faced, Frankl in told his
companions, ·"We mus! all
hang together, or assuredly
we shall all hang
separately. ' '
In spite of the buildup of a
poten! Soviet Pacific naval
force operating out of
Vietnam, not to mention strife
in New Guinea and New
Caledonia, the members of
ANZUS are likely to continue
to drift apart.
For their part, both New
Zealand and Australia have
Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke
NewZealand Prime MinisterDavid Lange
enough has been done to
remove the threat of nuclear
war. Al the same time, news
about a possible nuclear
winter after a nuclear attack
affecting nations even in the
Southern Hemisphere has
catapulted those fears into
government policy.
The crisis in ANZUS began
when New Zealand Prime
Minister David Lange
followed through on an
election pledge by banning
ships capable of carrying
nuclear arms from making
port calls in his
country.
36
Australia' s Prime Minister
Bob Hawke announced
during his state visit to
Washington in February that
Australia had decided not l o
participate with the United
States on MX
"Peacekeeper" missile tests.
U.S. officials tried to minimize
their embarrassment by
saying Australian
participation was not
necessary to conduct the
tests.
In light of the disarray in
the alliance, one cannot help
but recall a warning given by
Benjamín Franklin at the
large, active antinuclear
groups who clearly have the
numbers to influence their
respective Labour
governments' policies. Yet in
both nations the alliance with
the United States remains
popular. Only the issue of
nuclear weaP,ons draws
ardent tire.
The problem for the United
States has become one of
rethinking military geography
while trying to minimize and
contain the damage to
ANZUS in hopes that it will
not spread to the Philippines,
Japan or the more critica!
NATO alliance in Western
Europe.
The United States is
already making plans to use
the potential U.S.
Commonwealth territory of
the Northern Marianas as an
alternative to bases in the
Philippines, should it lose its
foothold in that country.
Other South Pacific nations
such as Fiji and Tonga seem
to be willing lo ftll in the gap
left by New Zealand by
offering port facilities lo the
United States.
What concerns the United
States is that sorne NATO
partners may follow New
Zealand's lead. For example,
Britain's Labour Party leader,
Neil Kinnock, and nearly 100
other Labour Members of
Parliament have given their
support to the New Zealand
prime minister in a Commons
motion, intimating they'd
introduce a similar ban.
Other NATO countries are
becoming restive about the
nuclear arms issue as well .
The governments of Belgium
and the Netherlands are
having difficulty winning
support for stationing U.S.
nuclear missiles on their soil.
lt is certain that the nuclear
issue will not just go away as
sorne wish it would. The
~
threat of nuclear annihilation
., is very real and demands our
~
attention.
Peace will come one day
to this beleaguered planet.
But it will not come about by
"Peacekeeper" missiles or
peace demonstrations. On
the contrary, man's
peacemaking efforts will
prove utterly fruitless, says
Bible prophecy (Ezek.
13:1-16).
lnstead, we will have
peace only when it is
imposed upon the whole
human family. lt will be a
peace maintained not by
military alliances, nuclear
weapons or throngs of
demonstrators, but by the
might of the living God (Rev.
19: 11 - 16; lsa . 32) .
The
PLAIN TRUTH