Goff hopes US thaw is pointer to future

The United States had allowed its military to take part in an exercise that included New Zealand because to do otherwise would not have been credible, Foreign Minister Phil Goff said last night.

He hoped the option of a waiver allowing New Zealand to exercise with the US would be taken more often, especially as the two countries were fighting alongside each other in Afghanistan against terrorism.

The US embassy last night hinted that issues such as the occasional lifting of the ban on joint exercises - a reprisal for 1987 anti-nuclear legislation - could form the basis of formal dialogue promoted by departing ambassador Charles Swindells.

New Zealand is exercising with other countries under the banner of a multinational initiative that the United States not only leads, but has asked this country to take a leading role in.

"They are keen for us to do so," Mr Goff told the Herald last night. "And for them to have stood in the way of us being able to participate towards achieving that objective really would not have been a credible position."

New Zealand has been involved in political and officials' meetings under the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).

The present exercise, Operation Deep Sabre, is the first PSI military exercise in Southeast Asia.

It is being conducted in Singapore and involves Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Britain, Singapore and the US. New Zealand has contributed an Air Force Orion.

The US could have sent officials or law enforcement officers to the exercise instead of a ship, but clearly decided that that would have been inappropriate and issued a waiver instead.

Neither New Zealand nor the US is willing to say the move is significant but it is the first time such a waiver has been given for joint training exercises outside of an operational context, such as allowing joint training with the New Zealand SAS before fighting together in Afghanistan.

The US is likely to have refrained from drawing attention to the waiver as it was something it had to do to avoid looking petty.

And Labour, which is attempting to revive the anti-nuclear nationalism of the 1980s for the election campaign, could be confusing its message if it was seen to be attracting US favours at this time.

While the US embassy said waivers were considered case-by-case, Mr Goff hoped the new "flexibility" would be followed in future.

"I would hope that that flexibility would be exercised in similar circumstances," he said.

"If they are prepared to fight alongside each other there [Afghanistan], why wouldn't they be prepared to exercise alongside us where there are shared objectives?"
Asked if he thought it was part of a thaw in sanctions, Mr Goff said the US had gradually relaxed some of the restrictions that were put in place in 1987 - otherwise he would not be able to speak to Secretaries of State.

"Restrictions have been eased in a number of areas but the United States would still tell you that the overall policy of non-exercising remains in place."

An embassy spokeswoman said that for the past 20 years the US had waived restrictions on exercising with the New Zealand Defence Force "case by case when it was in the US interest to do so".

"This is such a case."

Asked if the relaxation was a precedent that would be followed for all PSI exercises, the spokeswoman said that the ambassador's speech "did indicate that he would like see both countries discuss a less ad hoc arrangement as part of a comprehensive dialogue".

Prime Minister Helen Clark said that because the US was "very keen" for New Zealand to become a leader of the Proliferation Security Initiative, it was logical that New Zealand was in Singapore.

"Life has really moved on from old Anzus," she said.

Asked if it was significant she said: "I think the significance is that time has really moved on.

"The international community has new challenges. You get new groupings coming together to meet specific challenges like the challenge of international terrorism and New Zealand has been a very active participant in that."

Anti-weapons group

* New Zealand is one of 19 countries on the so-called operational experts group of the Proliferation Security Initiative.

* The group was set up by President George W. Bush after September 11 and is aimed at intercepting the transport of weapons of mass destruction.