WikiLeaks cable: NZ will pursue proposed resolution on de-alerting of nuclear forces
5:30 AM Thursday Dec 23, 2010
October 10, 2007 New Zealand will pursue proposed resolution on de-alerting of nuclear forces
date:2007-10-10T22:23:00 source:Embassy Wellington origin:07WELLINGTON742 destination:VZCZCXYZ0000 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHWL
#0742 2832223 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 102223Z OCT 07 FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4785 INFO
RUEHXP/ALL NATO POST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNDSC/DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
PRIORITY 0007 RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 4982 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0171 RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
PRIORITY 0171 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0306 RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 0268 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY
0665 RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0484 RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY 0018 RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
PRIORITY 0100 classification:CONFIDENTIAL reference:07STATE140048|07STATE141698 ?C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON
000742
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STATE FOR EAP/ANP AND ISN E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017 TAGS: PARM, MNUC, ... ?C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000742
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STATE FOR EAP/ANP AND ISN E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017 TAGS: PARM, MNUC, PREL, UNGA, NZ SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND WILL PURSUE
PROPOSED RESOLUTION ON DE-ALERTING OF NUCLEAR FORCES REF: A. A) STATE 141698 B. B) STATE 140048
Classified By: P/E Counselor Margaret McKean; Reasons 1.4 b and d
1. (C) On October 10, P/E Counselor met with Carolyn McDonald, Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's
Disarmament Division, Deputy Director Jillian Dempster, and Policy Officer Raylene Liufalani regarding the USG position
on New Zealand's draft resolution on de-alerting of nuclear forces (reftel B). McDonald had received a report from the
New Zealand Embassy in Washington on the October 5 meeting between Acting ISN DAS Andrew Semmel and representatives of
the New Zealand and Swedish Embassies (reftel A).
2. (C) P/E Counselor provided the draft points to McDonald and urged that New Zealand not take the draft resolution
further. McDonald responded point for point using the same arguments as the New Zealand Embassy had in its meeting with
Semmel; the resolution is balanced and does not target any nuclear state, de-alerting was one of 13 steps outlined by
the 2000 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, and New Zealand felt there was adequate support from other
countries to move the resolution forward. She added that Nigeria, Switzerland, and Chile had joined with New Zealand and
Sweden to support the resolution. New Zealand, continued McDonald, had taken comments and altered (slightly) some
wording in the draft resolution. The revised draft has been provided to P-5 members, she said, noting that the draft
went out to regional coordinators in New York on October 10. There is an NGO meeting scheduled for next Tuesday in New
York as well. Open consultations on the draft resolution will begin next week.
3. (C) McDonald allowed that the USG has made progress in the area of modifying its rapid reaction posture, and welcomed
the USG steps outlined in the draft points provided. Nevertheless, McDonald said that New Zealand and other like-minded
countries believe that not all nuclear weapons states have done what the U.S. has done, and all could make further
progress to reduce the operational status of nuclear arsenals and increase transparency. P/E Counselor argued that the
USG cannot accept measures that would affect its readiness posture and undermine its deterrence capabilities because of
the proposed risk of accidental use. Any suggestion that the USG has lowered its response capacity could be equally
dangerous, and the USG already has taken a number of steps and put into place safeguards to mitigate the scenarios
outlined in the resolution.
4. (C) McDonald gave no indication that the GNZ would rethink its support for the resolution; she underscored that all
the Cabinet Ministers had endorsed the draft resolution before Minister of Defense and Trade Philip Goff announced the
proposed resolution in late August.
ENDS