The World - News from May 2, 1988

New Zealand’s Prime Minister David Lange said that if being part of the ANZUS alliance means his country must be defended by nuclear weapons, then “we’re better off without it.” Lange, in Santa Barbara, Calif., to receive the Distinguished Peace Leadership Award presented annually by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, in 1984 banned all nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered ships from his country. Visits by U.S. naval vessels are barred unless those ships first declare whether they carry nuclear arms. Washington responded by effectively dropping New Zealand from the alliance, cutting it off from U.S. intelligence data. Lange said that the alliance, which included the United States and Australia, will have “no chance” to work again if it requires that New Zealand accept nuclear arms.