WikiLeaks: NZ responds to demarche on UNFC draft resolution

13 October, 2005 SUBJECT: 60TH UNFC: NEW ZEALAND RESPONDS TO DEMARCHE ON UNFC DRAFT RESOLUTION ON AD HOC COMMITTEES

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

Classified by Charge d'Affaires David R. Burnett. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (C) Largely because of frustration over the lack of progress in the Geneva Conference on Disarmament, the New Zealand government supports the draft resolution in the UN First Committee that would establish Ad Hoc Committees under the UN General Assembly. However, New Zealand does not want the committees to replace the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and would welcome U.S. ideas for moving the CD forward.

2. (C) Post on October 6 delivered ref B points to the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). The Charge on October 12 raised the issue with Simon Murdoch, MFAT's chief executive, during a discussion on how New Zealand sometimes sends negative signals to the United States. The Charge also raised the issue October 13 during his monthly lunch with the heads of the Canadian and Mexican missions here, stressing that if the Ad Hoc Committees were set up, the United States would not participate. The Mexican Ambassador (protect), who served six years in Geneva working arms control and disarmament issues, agreed that this initiative was a poor substitute for progress in the CD.

3. (C) Acting pol-econ chief on October 12 discussed the issue with Caroline McDonald, director of MFAT's disarmament division. McDonald noted that New Zealand representatives consulted with other governments on the issue on October 6 in New York and that Washington should be aware of New Zealand's position.

4. (C) McDonald said her government's support of the draft resolution stems primarily from frustration with the CD's lack of progress, in the face of global disarmament and proliferation challenges. She noted that the CD for the last eight years has been unable to agree on a work agenda, preventing key issues from being discussed. She also pointed to frustration over the lack of a major outcome from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference and over the UN High-Level Summit Document's failure to mention disarmament.

5. (C) New Zealand is not trying to replace or end the CD, McDonald said. The draft resolution, in fact, says that the Ad Hoc Committees would cease once the CD adopted a work program. The New Zealand government believes the U.S. government shares its objective to get the CD to address key disarmament and proliferation issues. Implying that New Zealand would not support the Ad Hoc Committees if the CD were making progress, McDonald said her government would welcome U.S. ideas for attaining our common objective of getting the CD to "get down to real work."

6. (C) McDonald also emphasized that New Zealand supports the need for the rule of consensus when substantive negotiations take place. However, in the CD, the need for consensus has prevented agreement on a work program, with procedural rules being employed that inhibit progress. Until that logjam is cleared, New Zealand sees the Ad Hoc Committees as a possible way for carrying forward discussions on the key disarmament and proliferation issues.

Burnett

ENDS