ANZUS review

Forwarded from Disarmament & Security Centre ....

U.S.-Australia Defense Pact To Be Reviewed 30 August 1999

CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) - A joint U.S.-Australian taskforce is to review the ANZUS defense alliance as a part of a comprehensive overhaul of all American military pacts in the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian newspaper said Monday. (..) The Australian said U.S. participants at the meeting had signaled that the United States expected Australia to devote more ``intellectual and financial'' resources to the partnership.

Defense analyst David Horner of the Australian National University (ANU) said the advanced defense technology used by the United States meant other states that wished to cooperate with the United States would have to spend heavily to keep up. ``Few countries in the world can cooperate with the Americans easily in defense technology. It's the same with the Navy -- even secure communications can be a problem,'' he said. (..)

Horner said that under the treaty there was no automatic duty to intervene in armed conflict on behalf of a partner state. New Zealand was excluded in the mid-eighties after it barred U.S. warships carrying nuclear weapons from its territorial waters. However, Horner said there had been recent suggestions that New Zealand should be re-integrated into the alliance.

Source: Reuters, 30 August 1999, 3:07 AM ET.

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