Borders and Battles: How Trade and Security have intertwined to define the United States-New Zealand relationship, from 1940 to 2014
Author | Rachael Harris |
Position | Washington Congressional Internee 2012 in the Office of Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) |
Pages | 164-181 |
164
BORDERS A ND BATTL ES: HOW TRA DE AND SECURITY
HAVE INT ERTWINED TO DEFINE THE UNITED STATES-
NEW ZE ALAND R ELATIONSHIP, FROM 1940 TO 2014
R H*
I. I
is year marks the centenary of the dening global conict of the early
21st Century, the First World War. It is tting at this time to consider our
contemporary defence arrangements, our allies, and our global friends, and
how these relationships have been formed. New Zealand a nd the United
States as Pacic neighbours have always had a close relationship, one based
predominately on mutual security ties throug hout the latter half of the 20th
Century and the begi nning of the 21st. While Americ a has always considered
security policy to be the most crucia l facet of the US-NZ relationship, New
Zealand, on the other hand, ha s considered trade strategy as a more and more
important factor in dening relations w ith our largest Pacic neighbour. is
paper explores in three parts how secu rity and defence, and trade are the most
important characterising policy factors of the New Zealand-United States
(NZ-U S) relat ionship.
e rst section will expla in how historically, security concerns have
underpinned the NZ-US relationship from the Second World War to the
disintegration of the ANZUS pact in 1985. e American ‘Invasion’ of New
Zealand in 1942 saw the beginning of the modern relationship, with the
two nations forced together against a common enemy. is pattern would
continue through to the Korean and Vietnam con icts, when New Zealand
and America found themselves as st aunch allies in the ght aga inst National
Socialism, Fascism, and Communism. A rising from this shared military
engagement, the ANZUS pact was formed. e New Z ealand-United States
relationship, however, would be aected forever with the annulment of
this pact due to the anti-nuclear crusade of the fourt h Labour government.
During this period, A merica’s focus on security and defence would continue
to dene the NZ-US relationship.
e second section of this paper plots the track of the relationship in the
1990s and early 2000s. It will show how agai n security and defence remained
a crucial part of the A merican approach to New Zealand, despite the rise
of trade to the forefront of the New Zealand foreign relations agenda. For
the National governments of the 1990s, hard-won diplomatic yards were
* Washington Cong ressional Internee 2012 in the Oc e of Senator Max Baucus (D- MT). e
author wishes to th ank the University of Canter bury School of Law, the USNZ Counci l and
the team at the Ne w Zealand Embass y in Washington D.C.
165
side-lined by the anti-nuclear policy beloved by the nation. e early 2000s
would see the relationship stalled aga in by New Zealand’s refusal to enter the
Iraq War. e failure of the fth Labour government to secure a Free Trade
Agreement with the United States will be shown to be a direct consequence
of the Clark administration’s approach to key security issues.
e third section will jump to the contemporary st ate of the relationship –
described by those in power as ‘the new normal’. Crucially, trade and security
have merged even more closely in the form of the Trans Pacic Partnership
(TPP) agreement. e TPP, although controversial domestically in both
New Zealand and t he United States for a number of factors, will allow New
Zealand acce ss to the trading markets it has been striving towards for years.
For America, the TPP is a crucial pa rt of its ‘rebalance’ towards Asia, its
strategy to combat the rise of China a s a world super power. It will be shown
that the TPP is a culmination of the two policy factors that each nation gives
primacy – trade and security. is paper will conclude with a hope that as
New Zealand becomes pa rt of America’s security and defence strateg y against
the rise of China, New Zea land will nally get its wish, and that there will
be trade payos for our Pacic Island nation. Concerns will a lso be raised
regarding New Zea land’s potential future security obligations as a result of
the TPP.
II. ‘B C’ F N M
B – T N Z – U S S
R –
From 1940 onwards, the New Zealand-United States relationship has
been dened by two key geopolitical i nuences – trade and security. Security,
in particular, has always been a crucial inuence; indeed the modern
relationship between New Zealand and the United States of America was
born out of World War II, a security crisis that was to cha nge the world for
ever. As Pacic neighbours, the two open democracies were thru st together
on a worldwide scale for the rst signicant time when faced with a common
enemy – the Japanese. After the battle of Pearl Harbour in December 1941,
the Japanese had:1
…complete control of the Pacic for four month s, during which time t hey conquered
the greater par t of the East Indies, the Phil ippines, and New Guinea, and kept t he Allies
guessing a s to (their) next objective.
e war in the Pacic was a very rea l concern to both the US and New
Zealand, and both nations were required to act to protect their security
interests.
1 Harry Biolet ti e Yanks are Coming: e Ame rican Invasion of New Zeala nd 1942-1944
(Century Hutchi nson Ltd, Auckland, 1989) at 20.
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