U.S., Australia Vow to Keep Treaty : ‘I Miss New Zealand,’ Shultz Says as Security Talks End

The United States and Australia put on a show of solidarity here Monday and vowed to continue their cooperation on defense and security issues despite the absence of New Zealand, their missing ally in the 34-year-old ANZUS security pact.

At the same time, the two nations discussed ways to head off further Soviet inroads in the South Pacific, where the hostility to the United States caused by American tuna fishermen has given Moscow opportunities to penetrate the region through fishing agreements with the region’s island nations.

Both Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Australian Foreign Minister Bill Hayden sought to play down the impact of New Zealand’s absence from their meeting as a result of the Wellington government’s decision to ban U.S. nuclear ships from its waters.

Australian Defense Minister Kim C. Beazley told a press conference that the security of the region has not suffered, although both the United States and Australia have had to step up their activities in the region to compensate for New Zealand’s absence. “There have been costs that we’ve been prepared to carry,” he said.

Increased Surveillance

Beazley said the Australians have undertaken increased surveillance of the South Pacific and have increased military exercises with the United States.

In February, New Zealand barred a visiting U.S. warship because the United States refused to say whether it was carrying nuclear weapons. Since then, Shultz said, the two nations have held long discussions on ways to satisfy New Zealand’s concerns, while upholding the U.S. policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons anywhere.

No solution has been found so far, and the United States has stopped holding joint military exercises and sharing intelligence information with New Zealand.

“I miss New Zealand,” Shultz said at a final press conference. “We regret that the decision of New Zealand has altered their position in our alliance.”

Asked about New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange’s proposal that his government’s ban on nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered ships be enacted into law, Shultz said that such action “might precipitate a review of the treaty by the United States.”

However, U.S. fears that “nuclear allergy” would spread to other allies, including Japan, have not come to pass. A senior State Department official said Monday that he personally would be prepared to live for 10 years with no change in the present status of ANZUS--the acronym for the alliance among Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

In contrast, Adm. William Crowe, U.S. commander in chief in the Pacific, has publicly said he could not fulfill his responsibilities for defense of the region if the United States continues to be denied New Zealand port facilities.

Fishing Disputes

In a day of intensive talks here, Shultz and Hayden also focused on Soviet efforts to sign fishing agreements with newly independent island states, such as Kiribati, and the risk of similar Soviet overtures to other islands.

The United States is itself “working on fishing agreements with some of the nations involved” in an effort to prevent further Soviet gains, Shultz said.

Kiribati, formerly the Gilbert Islands, is said to be ready to sign a deal with the Soviets that would allow 16 Soviet trawlers to fish in its waters and grant some shore rights, while providing the island nation with $2.4 million a year in license fees, according to a senior U.S. official.

U.S. and Australian officials fear that this is a first step in Soviet efforts to gain broader access to the islands and then throughout the region over the next decade.

The main irritant in relations between United States and those island states is commercial tuna fishing within their 200-mile economic exclusion zone.

U.S. law, written largely under pressure from tuna fishing interests, defines tuna as a migratory fish not covered by such exclusion zones, according to Washington officials. The law also directs the United States to impose sanctions against nations that seize U.S. tuna boats in those circumstances, and in some cases indemnifies owners against loss of their boats.

Besides Kiribati, commercial U.S. tuna boats have been seized by the Solomon Islands and Papua-New Guinea, and editorials throughout the region have inveighed against “poaching” and “American cowboys of the high seas.”

In their defense, tuna fishermen have argued that their industry is too depressed to pay the same high license fees that the Japanese and the Soviets do for fishing in the economic zones of these islands.

Some Australian officials want Washington to make up the difference, either directly or indirectly. The official traveling with Shultz said no U.S. subsidies are being considered, but that some kind of “development aid” to help islanders improve their fishing catch, possibly including training on U.S. boats, is being contemplated.