WikiLeaks cable: NZ supports existing draft ship boarding amendments to SUA convention
April 8, 2005 NZ supports the existing draft ship boarding amendments to the Sua convention
STATE FOR L/LEI: DENISE MANNING, NP/RA EYTHAN SONTAG, AND EAP/ANZ DOJ FOR WAYNE RAABE USCG FOR LCDR BRAD KIESERMAN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2015 TAGS: KNNP, KTIA, MNUC, PARM, PREL, PHSA, EWWT, PGOV, NZ SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND SUPPORTS THE
EXISTING DRAFT SHIP BOARDING AMENDMENTS TO THE SUA CONVENTION
REF: SECSTATE 55182
Classified By: Acting DCM Katherine Hadda, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (C) Summary: New Zealand is likely to oppose efforts to reopen the draft SUA 8bis text, and hopes the United States
will support the Canadian text for Article 2bis. New Zealand strongly supports the Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI), and feels the proof of the exercise's effectiveness will be how well it enhances enforcement mechanisms at the
border. NZ officials have encouraged Pacific Island nations to adopt PSI, and may be willing to encourage others in Asia
to sign on as well. Our key Foreign Ministry interlocutor on PSI believes a slow, regional approach may be the best way
to encourage ASEAN nations' participation in the initiative. End Summary.
1. (C) On March 31, Pol-Econ Couns shared reftel demarche points with Caroline Bilkey, Deputy Legal Advisor at the
Ministry or Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), a key Government legal advisor on PSI and Counter-terrorism issues. Bilkey
had heard from the NZ rep who attended the February Intersessional meeting that Greece had wanted to reopen the 8bis
language in the draft SUA amendments, but was very surprised to learn that other countries were now supporting the Greek
position. None of the countries who are interested in reopening the text have approached New Zealand about the issue,
she said. Bilkey added that she could not imagine that New Zealand would agree to reopen the text and said she would
recommend against it. In her view, it is especially important to leave the existing draft as it is because the proposed
language was only approved by a very narrow margin and there are more important issues to talk about.
2. (C) Bilkey said that one part of the text that New Zealand is concerned about is Article 2bis, where the Kiwis would
like to see a carve out for the NPT. New Zealand strongly supports the Canadian text and hope the United States will
support it as well.
3. (C) Bilkey attended the PSI Operational Experts Group Meeting in Omaha in March, which she found very useful. She
regretted the NZ contingent there was so small. (The Defence Force lawyer had a family emergency and another
representative was similarly unable to attend.) Bilkey stressed that New Zealand really supports PSI, and has been
pleased if a bit bemused to seemingly have graduated from an observer to a participant (albeit one with very limited
military resources to contribute). She was struck at Omaha by how different governments seem to be emphasizing different
aspects of the initiative, as evident by their choice of lead agencies. Japan was clearly managing the initiative
through its foreign affairs ministry, while Singapore and the United States were concentrating more on the military
aspects. Revealing her own bias in the matter (not surprisingly, given the small size of the NZ military), Bilkey said
ideally we should get to the point where border and export controls will make military intervention unnecessary.
4. (C) Bilkey will not be attending the April 18-22 Legal Committee meeting. New Zealand's chief delegate there will be
MFAT's new Legal Advisor, Gerard Van Bohemen, who will not formally start in his position until June. Bohemen has for
some years been in private practice at the Wellington law firm Chen and Palmer. Bringing in an outside legal advisor is
unusual, according to Bilkey, but Bohemen used to work at MFAT so this may be part of the reason he is being given the
job. (Comment: Personal connections doubtless are also at work, as the "Palmer" is former Labour PM Geoffrey Palmer. End
comment.)
5. (C) New Zealand has been encouraging others to join PSI, according to Bilkey. MFAT has stressed the importance of the
initiative to Pacific Island states, including through a monthly newsletter to those governments. Pol-Econ Counselor
asked whether New Zealand would consider encouraging other hold-outs to join. She raised Thailand specifically, pointing
out that New Zealand's recent Free Trade Agreement with and close ties to Thailand should give the Kiwis some influence
there. Bilkey said she had already briefed the lead Thai lawyer on the legal opinion drafted by her department that had
allowed the NZ Government to join PSI. She said her sense from discussions with the lawyer is that the Thai bureaucracy
is both complex and powerful, and that there seems to be one ministry still opposed to Thailand's joining the
initiative. She said she would definitely be open to further approaches to her Thai counterparts if that would be
useful. Bilkey also believes that a slow, regional approach could be the best means to encourage ASEAN and other
regional hold-outs to participate in PSI.
Burnett
ENDS