The ANZUS Crisis, Nuclear Visiting and Deterrence

The deployment of nuclear weapons has been a critical problem for the NATO alliance. Opposition to nuclear tests within the Southern Hemisphere has developed with the creation of a South Pacific Free Zone and the decision by the New Zealand Government to ban port visits by vessels believed to be carrying nuclear weapons. This attempt to disengage from nuclear deterrence provoked a crisis in the ANZUS alliance with Australia and the United States that has been closely followed by political parties and pressure groups in the Northern Hemisphere. This first major study of nuclear visiting examines the questions of principle at issue, the evolution of the ANZUS crisis and its implications for the Western alliance structure as a whole. The author assesses the degree to which the "nuclear free virus" in the South Pacific might be catching and relates this work to some of the most pressing international issues of our time.

The development of nuclear weapons has been a critical problem for the NATO alliance. In the Pacific, a region of increasing strategic interest for the United States and Soviet Union, nuclear weapons have been an environmental concern since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Opposition to nuclear tests has now been taken a step further with the creation of a South pacific Nuclear Free Zone and the decision by a New Zealand Government to ban port visits by vessels believed to be carrying nuclear weapons. New Zealand's proposal to back its policy with legislation had been seen by the Reagan and Thatcher administrations as a threat to the principle of 'neither confirm nor deny' the presence of nuclear weapons on vessels. This 1989 study examines the questions of principle at issue, the evolution of the ANZUS crisis, its implications for the Western alliance structure as a whole, and the degree to which the 'nuclear-free' virus' in the South Pacific might be catching.

List of tables; Preface; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction: the revolt of an underling; 2. The ANZUS treaty and strategic developments; 3. Defence co-operation and nuclear connections; 4. Warship access and the ANZUS liability suspensions; 5. Nuclear hazards and environmental safety; 6. Anti-nuclear politics; 7. From negotiation to legislation; 8. Regional security and the future of ANZUS; 9. The ANZUS crisis, nuclear visiting and the western alliance; Appendices; Notes; Bibliography; Index.