Australian and Us Military Cooperation: Fighting Common Enemies by Christopher Hubbard

Author:Christopher Hubbard [Hubbard, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781351162821
Google: UfhADwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 37488493
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2005-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

End-game

The final denouement arrived for Australia in the days leading up to the United Nations' endorsement of the NPT in the form of two diplomatic notes ('Aides-Memoires') from the United States Government to the Australian Government, in which Washington laid out its final position in the face of the surprising reaction of Canberra to its global nuclear anti-proliferation proposals. The first Note made three important points. First, it made a commitment that 'many' of Australia's concerns would be addressed in submissions by the United States Government at the forthcoming US Senate hearings on the ratification of the NPT itself. Second, the interpretation which the Mission to Canberra had offered on the meaning of the term 'manufacture' could not stand; such a permissive interpretation was the result of an 'apparent misunderstanding'. Nevertheless, the US would give further consideration both to that question, and to Australia's concerns over safeguard implementation. Third, it offered a singular quid pro quo. If the Australian side would refrain from raising complex and highly sensitive questions in the United Nations General Assembly First Committee debate on the terms of the proposed treaty (specifically on the term 'manufacture' of nuclear weapons and the implementation of safeguards) then the United States would undertake to address Australia's need for flexibility on what, precisely, it (America) took 'manufacture' to connote.

Couched in diplomatic language, the United States was offering Australia a bargain: 'refrain from airing your grievances (on the meaning of 'manufacture') in open debate, or with the Soviet Union, and the US will accommodate your concerns'. Washington went on to add that in dealing with questions raised by the Australian Government, the United States will take fully into account the Australian concern that she not be put in a disadvantageous position vis-à-vis other non-nuclear countries in Asia'.

The 'further considerations' promised by the United States on 'manufacture' and safeguards implementation appeared in America's second and final diplomatic note on the subject, just six weeks before the new NPT would be opened for signature by the 'peace-loving' states of the world under the aegis of the United Nations. This represented the full extent to which the United States was prepared to go in its quest to have all its Western allies sign up to the NPT. As such, they represented the line in the sand beyond which America would not step in terms of what the United States government was prepared to agree to in return for Australia's support. This seminal document, representative as it is of the process by which the United States sought to reinforce its global security strategy, deserves close examination, not only in terms of its global significance but because it set the scene for the spirit and practical application of Australia's ANZUS alliance into the future, and her evolving status as an influential middle power.

In the final Aide-Memoire13 the United States addressed two central aspects of the terms of the new nuclear treaty - the interpretation it was prepared to apply to the meaning of the term 'manufacture'

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