U.S. Will Test MX Without Australia Aid : Missile Target Area Shifted to Avoid 2nd ANZUS Controversy

The Reagan Administration, stepping away from a possible controversy with Australia amid a simmering dispute with New Zealand, decided Wednesday to move a test of the MX missile away from Australia and conduct it without that nation’s help.

The announcement, a concession to Australian public opinion, was made by Secretary of State George P. Shultz after a meeting with Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who expressed his nation’s concern about the test.

Shultz said the test will not be conducted as planned in international waters of the Tasman Sea, which separates Australia and New Zealand. A Pentagon source said a target area several hundred miles farther away from Australia will be used instead.

Avoids Embarrassing Hawke

The move by Shultz avoided embarrassing Hawke as he prepares to meet today with President Reagan at the White House. It came the day after the United States canceled planned naval maneuvers with Australia and New Zealand over New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange’s refusal to permit the U.S. destroyer Buchanan--a conventionally powered ship that is capable of carrying nuclear weapons--to make a port call.

Lange and his Labor Party reject visits by nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships on the grounds that they would make New Zealand a Soviet target in the event of war. Since U.S. policy has long been to never reveal whether vessels are nuclear-armed, New Zealand’s stand effectively bans all U.S. warships capable of carrying the weapons.

Lange responded angrily Wednesday to the State Department’s warning that allies’ anti-nuclear gestures against the United States will not be “cost-free.” At a news conference in Wellington, he said it is “unacceptable that another country should by threat or coercion try to change a policy which has been embraced by the New Zealand people.”

However, the prime minister also called the dispute a “smallish issue” and said his nation does not wish to withdraw from the 34-year-old ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) defense alliance.

The tone of Shultz’s comments, though, left questions about the role the United States envisions for New Zealand in the three-party treaty. When asked whether he intends to take retaliatory action against Lange’s decision to deny port privileges to the Buchanan, Shultz sounded as though ANZUS had already become a two-party alliance.

“Among the first results is the cancellation of the naval exercises that were to take place,” Shultz said, “and of course we will make arrangements with Australia and announce in due course how the United States and Australia will go forward. And there will be a variety of other ways in which the changed operational character will be reflected, but New Zealand has made its decision.

‘Solid With Australia’

“We’re sorry about that,” he added. “We have great affection for the people of New Zealand. We also remind them that those who value freedom have to be willing to be prepared to defend it. We remain solid with Australia, ready to defend it.”

A senior Administration official, who spoke to reporters on the condition he not be identified, said pointedly: “There are certain core obligations that allies have. If those obligations aren’t met, it’s simply not possible to conduct an alliance effectively.”

In the MX test, the unarmed missile, which has a 7,800-mile range, was to be fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California toward the Tasman Sea. Australia had agreed to provide refueling facilities and other support to U.S. planes monitoring the performance of the missile.

A Pentagon source said Wednesday that, because of Hawke’s objections, the missile target will be moved and the monitoring probably will be done by ship.

“People don’t want to embarrass Hawke,” the officials said. “He is friendly to this country.”

Hawke Backs Alliance

The U.S. treatment of the missile test was in marked contrast to the handling of the disagreement with New Zealand over port calls, and Hawke said at the State Department that it would be “totally mistaken” to conclude that the change in the MX test would have an impact on the ANZUS alliance.

Shultz said that during the meeting with Hawke, U.S. officials “brought out that there are a variety of ways of monitoring MX tests.”

“The monitoring effort need not involve the provision of Australian support, and the decision has been made by the U.S. to conduct the MX tests without the use of Australian support,” he said.

Hawke, when asked if he had told Shultz that the tests could not take place in Australian waters, replied, “I advised him of the concerns that had arisen in Australia.” Later, he said the MX testing issue will have no effect on U.S.-Australian relations because the decision was made “freely and willingly.”