US Warship In Wellington Harbour Symbol Of NZ Vassalage

Last Friday May 16th the USS Blue Ridge, Flagship of the US 7th Fleet, sailed into Wellington Harbour and is moored at Aotea Quay until this Thursday. Hopefully it is not bristling with nuclear missiles, but if it is we, the citizens of nuclear free NZ, will be the last to know.

The US navy promotes itself as “deterring aggression” as they sail around in our part of the Pacific. This is the same doublespeak as using the word “defence” to mean “offence”.

Vice Admiral Fred Kacher, commander of the US 7th Fleet, commented on the visit to New Zealand: “Our partnership is rooted in our common values and respect…”

Do we share values with people committing genocide in Palestine? Winston Peters has said in the past year that we have the same values as the US. This is probably true of the Government and much of Parliament, but it is not true of the rest of the country: New Zealanders do not value global dominance above the lives of foreign children. American values are looking less and less attractive to the rest of the world.

Although it is denied by Defence Minister Judith Collins, the visit is also being seen by experts as countering China's growing influence in the region. US defence analyst Derek Grossman says: "I think it's symbolic, but I also think it's indicative of the strengthening partnership with an eye towards countering China in the Indo-Pacific." And that it is symbolic of an "increasing alignment in the perspectives of Wellington and Washington".

Both those reasons for welcoming the warship in Wellington - symbolism and military security - should make us uneasy.

There has been some recent sabre rattling between the Chinese and the Australians and Kiwis. This is pushing the Government to instinctively move New Zealand closer to its traditional ally without thinking clearly about our own interests. If we are concerned about our security it would make more sense to maintain our relationship with China and keep our independence. Helping the US in “countering China in the Indo-Pacific”, whatever that means, does not sound like the act of a peaceful, neutral neighbour.

Judith Collins was quoted by 1 News when welcoming the warship: "The US and New Zealand have a great relationship. Our troops and our people work together in places like Korea and the Sinai. Our relationship with the US has always been very strong – the Marines were here in the Second World War. It’s a very strong relationship and always has been, and I think people will feel really happy to see them in town."

Well no, Judith, quite a few Wellingtonians are not at all happy to see them in town. There have been a couple of demonstrations against the ship’s presence by peace activists led by Peace Action Wellington and Just Defence. The feeling is more outrage than happiness. Outrage that our government is getting as close as possible to a country that is the world’s main agent of death and destruction, currently enabling genocide. That is the US, not China. The sight of a US Warship in our waters is not a happy one.

There is a feeling amongst many Kiwis that the relationship with the States does not need to get any cosier than it already is. It is not an equal partnership but one where the US tells us to do something and we generally do it without demur. It is not in New Zealand’s national interest to relinquish our sovereignty to another country – to follow behind one great power while risking antagonising another – China. It would surely be in New Zealand’s interest to maintain a neutral, friendly relationship with all our trading partners, especially those with great military and economic power. That is the way to avoid not only financial damage, but war.

It is bad enough that New Zealand is risking deteriorating relations with our major trading partner, China, but much worse to follow the US in spoiling for a war with China. Nobody knows what Trump will do from one day to the next, but there are indications that the US is so desperate about China’s increasingly superior economic status that it is considering a military offensive to bring it down.

The Americans would be keen to get NZ on board with AUKUS, and our current Government seems only too willing to follow the US with military support into a war against China. This is a war that probably cannot be won, certainly not by the US and allies, and would be disastrous for this country. One gets the feeling that we would be useful cannon fodder for the Americans in the Pacific and that if they started to lose the war they would abandon us to our fate.

We are welcoming US Warships, training with the US and the Israeli defence forces, sending troops to Yemen against America’s enemies, and enormously increasing the billions of dollars we already allocate to tools of war that will never be used for our own defence but only as backup for the Americans (Gordon Campbell pointed out that there are no real costings for our defence spending plan). This all shows us that the Government is only too happy to lead us into that morass.

Let us Wellingtonians and Kiwis be quite clear eyed about the intentions of the US and our own Government. Let’s not be taken by surprise if we are dragged down to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean behind the torpedoed American warship we are chained to.

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