David Lange's French connection--mais qui? Ken Ross discusses the Labour prime minister's contest with French President Mitterrand on a range of difficult issues.

• Author: Ross, Ken

Lange's exposure of French culpability in the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, his firm advocacy for the French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia to become the independent Kanaky and his being at the forefront of international opposition to French nuclear testing at Moruroa together present a major portfolio of global diplomacy by a New Zealand prime minister. New Caledonia was Lange's principal 'captain's call' in his global diplomacy. The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior is the most fascinating chapter in Lange's global diplomacy--more so than the ANZUS/nuclear free New Zealand saga.

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'Let's hear it for the French. Not only did the Rainbow Warrior sinking remind us how arrogantly larger powers may disregard the integrity of small states, it was also a below-the-belt lesson about the reality of international incidents; this one hit home out of the blue from an unanticipated quarter. Neither ANZUS nor strategies of forward defence were relevant.' (Pauline Swain, 1985) (1)

David Lange's Parisian entanglements prompted contemporary global leaders to nod that he was a serious player on the international landscape. It was a suite of three initiatives that had him (and New Zealand) on collision courses with French President Francois Mitterrand and his lieutenants. Lange's exposure of French culpability in the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, his firm advocacy for the French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia to become the independent Kanaky and his being at the forefront of international opposition to French nuclear testing at Moruroa together present a major portfolio of global diplomacy by a New Zealand prime minister.

Lange's global diplomacy with Washington has been so well raked over that that literature fills a library shelf. But his Mitterrand global diplomacy lacks any substantial assessment.

Lange's was a high wire act, with no safety net, as he went head-to-head with Mitterrand. He never lost his footing. Twice, scorpion-like, Lange stung the president--when he showed Mitterrand's culpability for the Rainbow Warriors bombing and when his interventions secured New Caledonia's reinscription on the United Nations List of Non-Self-Governing Territories. Each is among the handful of most serious setbacks for Mitterrand during his fourteen years as president.

Lange and Mitterrand never met. Nor did Lange encounter any of Mitterrand's four prime ministers--Pierre Mauroy, Laurent Fabius, Jacques Chirac or Michel Rocard. Lange missed out completely on one of his own predecessor's most favoured locales --Parisian nightclubs. Muldoon was in Paris eight times during his prime ministership and met Mitterrand. Lange never got there. He met Claude Cheysson, the first of France's three foreign ministers during Lange's prime ministership, but only once, at the United Nations in New York in September 1984. Cheysson lost his job two months later--his two successors, Roland Dumas (1984-86, 1988-93) and Jean-Bernard Raimond (1986-88), steered clear of Lange.

Mind games

His sharp relationship with Mitterrand was extraordinary. Lange, who relied heavily on establishing personal rapport with other leaders, had to do mind games with Mitterrand. His early pitch that as fellow progressives they should have the same perspective was breathtaking in its gaucheness. This was over New Caledonia--Mitterrand as leader of the French Socialist Party in 1979 had signed off his party's support for the Kanak independentists. But, when president, he never delivered.

Lange foiled Mitterrand. His strength--his public wit--outpointed the Frenchman, whose tactic as a master of elusiveness and deviousness did not play well vis-a-vis the New Zealander. Nor, importantly, did it with other world leaders as they watched the pair jostle.

The outstanding portrait of Mitterrand came early in his presidency --Christine Nay's The Black and the Red: Francois Mitterrand The Story of an Ambition (1984, Eng trans 1987). She focused on 'what events had shaped Mitterrand before he, in turn, shaped events'.

My Mitterrand is drawn predominantly through the contemporary lens of the writings of British journalists who throughout his presidency camped outside the Elysee Palace crafting their prose--in particular the BBC's...