Vol. 76/No. 36      October 8, 2012

During the tour Panetta announced new steps to strengthen Washington’s military ties and presence, including building a new anti-ballistic missiles radar station in Japan.

The tour came just three weeks after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led the biggest U.S. delegation to ever attend a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, which took place in the Cook Islands. The forum is an annual gathering of South Pacific government leaders. Both the U.S. and China attend as “dialogue partners.”

During his stopover here, Panetta announced the relaxation of restrictions on New Zealand naval ship visits to the United States. Currently New Zealand warships are banned from U.S. military facilities, but Panetta said they will now be allowed at bases in the U.S. and around the world, subject to a waiver.

Washington downgraded its military relationship with New Zealand in 1984 after Wellington banned port stops of nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered naval vessels from the U.S., United Kingdom and other nations. The following year New Zealand was formally suspended from the 1951 Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty.

For the first time in 28 years, New Zealand Defence Forces in July were invited to participate in Rimpac. Hosted by Washington off the coast of Hawaii, Rimpac is the world’s largest military maritime exercise. In a snub, New Zealand navy ships were told to tie up at a civilian port downtown, after being refused permission to dock alongside other military vessels.

Panetta also announced the lifting of existing restrictions on talks between senior military personnel of both governments. He also raised the prospect of stationing U.S. troops in New Zealand for the first time since World War II.

“The U.S. and New Zealand militaries have fought and bled side by side in defense of our way of life—whether in Europe or North Africa, in two world wars, in the jungles of Vietnam or the mountains of Afghanistan,” Panetta said during a tribute to New Zealand soldiers who died in Afghanistan.

At the Pacific Islands Forum Clinton made it clear that Washington would not allow its role as the dominant power in the Pacific to be usurped. “We have consistently protected the Pacific sea lanes through which a great deal of the world’s commerce passes,” she said, addressing government leaders from 16 nations. Washington intended to remain for the long haul, she added.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced Sept. 20 that special forces were being sent to Afghanistan to track down those responsible for killing five New Zealand soldiers there in August. During his stop in Auckland, Panetta said U.S. forces “will do whatever we have to do in cooperation with the forces in New Zealand to make sure that they understand nobody attacks our forces and gets away with it.”  
 
 
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