US set to lift ban on military exercises with NZ

The ban is likely to be announced next week when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images

The United States is poised to drop its ban on military exercises with New Zealand.

The move will be a significant step in a thaw in the NZ-US relationship that has accelerated since Barack Obama became President a little over a year ago.

The Weekend Herald understands it is likely to be announced next week when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, Kurt Campbell, visit New Zealand.

Mrs Clinton announced last year that intelligence-sharing co-operation between the two countries had also resumed.

In a further sign of the fast-track thaw, it is understood that President Obama has twice informally invited Prime Minister John Key to Washington.

The visit is likely to take place within six months.

Mr Key has also been invited to the anti-nuclear proliferation summit of about 40 countries to be hosted in Washington in April by President Obama.

The fact that Mrs Clinton and Dr Campbell are visiting so early in the term of the Administration, and are making more than a fleeting visit, is an indication of the shift in US thinking.

The ban on military exercises, imposed by former President Ronald Reagan, has been in place since 1985.

It was one of the reprisals for the anti-nuclear policy - now law - that banned nuclear armed or powered American military vessels from New Zealand ports.

The thaw is not expected to extend to a resumption of ship visits.

But it is part of a wider foreign policy shift by President Obama, who wants to promote diplomacy and partnership as the cornerstone of his foreign policy.

The fact that the ban remained while New Zealand troops served in Afghanistan and contributed to the post-invasion effort in Iraq has rankled with the public.

Formal waivers are required for certain levels of contact between the military - the details of which the United States will not make public.

But it is known that New Zealand's SAS has been given permission to train with its American counterpart.

Waivers were also required for the exercises New Zealand has taken part in under the umbrella of the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative, aimed at intercepting the shipment of weapons of mass destruction or material used for making them.

The second-term Government of George W. Bush reviewed the US relationship with New Zealand, and from 2006 a marked improvement took place, with increased high-level contact between the two nations.

High on the agenda of meetings next week with Mr Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully will be upcoming talks about the TransPacific Partnership.

This is a four-country free trade agreement - begun by New Zealand and Singapore - that is to be expanded to cover four more countries, including the United States.