Avoiding nuclear war

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Re: Canada considers Aukus membership, April 10 page 12.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that Canada is considering joining the Aukus pact and believes it may need nuclear submarines to patrol its Arctic waters. Regular readers will know I support New Zealand’s nuclear-free Pacific policy and I am against New Zealand joining Aukus.

Furthermore, I support The United Nations General Assembly resolution of 1946 which contained the basic elements of a nuclear-weapons-free world: a general commitment to the elimination of nuclear weapons and an internationally acceptable and verifiable system to promote the peaceful use of atomic energy.

Nuclear disarmament has also been a stated aim of the United States since the dawn of the nuclear age. The US also committed to working towards this end when it signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968. Yet, despite the obvious hypocrisy, I believe these goals are still achievable in this 21st century.

Although New Zealand and Pacific nation allies have worked hard since 1985 to keep our region nuclear-free, it may be a little late for the Northern Hemisphere Arctic regions.

Already an estimated 18,000 radioactive objects lie at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, including 19 vessels and 14 reactors. In the past decade, Russia has begun the process of cleaning up after itself — primarily to boost trade through growing shipping routes, as winter sea ice continues to recede under global warming.

Besides, I am also deeply concerned that any escalation in the Aukus alliance will further destabilise relationships between nuclear powers and eventually lead to the all-out nuclear war we have been trying to avoid since the 1950s.

Bob Hughes