The new rotation will be New Zealand's sixth to East Timor, meaning that most of the 4,300 regular army personnel and many territorial reservists will have served at least once in the country, some up to three times. The minister of defense in the Labour-Alliance government, Mark Burton, justified the decision by saying there is continuing volatility in East Timor. It "reinforces our reputation as a valued contributor to multilateral peace building and regional security," he said. Maxwell Bradford, defense spokesperson for the opposition National Party, welcomed the decision to extend the involvement of New Zealand troops in East Timor.

The extension of the troop deployment comes on the heels of a May 8 government announcement of plans to reorganize and upgrade the New Zealand Defense Forces (NZDF). The government said it will "disband the air combat arm" of the Air Force, limiting it to "maritime patrol and air transport"; curtail expansion of the navy; and focus on fielding a "modernized army with new equipment placing it in the first tiers of forces internationally," Prime Minister Helen Clark said.

Defense chief Burton said New Zealand "cannot afford modern combat aircraft and the weaponry needed to equip them, and also maintain adequate army and navy capabilities," adding the new army will be "suited to a potential future theater of war."

The Christchurch Press noted that "New Zealand's decision to end its air combat operations in favor of building a stronger, more capable army could have long-term benefits for Australia" since the country "will acquire new armoured vehicles and communications gear, making them better able to operate alongside the Australian Defense Force (ADF)." New Zealand's decision to "upgrade or replace its dated Iroquois helicopters and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft" will help underpin "the ADF's own stretched transport capabilities."  
 
'Combat soldiers for service offshore'
Ian Bostock, Australian correspondent for Jane's Defense Weekly, wrote in the May 16 Press, "The Clark government has been able to see through the background clutter of competing security demands and come to terms with what the NZDF can and can't do well. For New Zealand, it's providing well-trained, well equipped, and highly professional combat soldiers for service offshore. These will mostly be deployed as part of a coalition and be suitable for a range of scenarios--from peacekeeping/peace enforcement through to low and medium intensity conflicts where troops on the ground count."

Recognizing their weaknesses as a junior imperialist power, the wealthy ruling class in New Zealand is offering to sacrifice workers and farmers in uniform as the combat ground troops in future imperialist wars and occupations around the world, and especially in the Pacific.

To carry out this military program the Labour-Alliance coalition plans to increase funding for the armed forces over the next five years by NZ$300 million, in addition to the estimated NZ$400 million the government will save over that period by disbanding the Air Combat Force (NZ$1 = US 41 cents). It is estimated that total capital investment over the next 10 years will exceed NZ$2 billion. Boasting about the increased spending, Defense Minister Burton said the previous government "cut defense operational and personnel spending by 17.7 percent in real terms between 1991 and 1997.... Spending will actually increase to make up for past neglect."

As part of the May 8 announcement, the government said it would limit the upgrade of the fleet of Orion antisubmarine aircraft and would not purchase a third frigate for the New Zealand navy. Instead, a smaller multipurpose naval vessel would be purchased, equipped with a helicopter and light armaments. These are considered more useful in the South Pacific--the New Zealand Navy's main sphere of operations.

The government plan envisions selling off its 17 Skyhawk fighter planes and 17 Italian Aermacchi jet trainers. Currently the Skyhawk fighter-bombers and the infrastructure that keeps them in the air make up 14 percent of the entire military budget.

New Zealand's military functions in close collaboration with Australia as the two imperialist powers situated in the South Pacific. In 1991 a Closer Defense Relationship was signed to enhance the "interoperabilty" of the two military forces. The last two frigates bought by the New Zealand Navy were built in Australia. Half of the New Zealand Skyhawk fleet has been permanently posted to Nowra in New South Wales to exercise with the Australian Navy and test its air defense systems.

In addition to East Timor, New Zealand military forces have been deployed in the past year in Bougainville and the Solomon Islands. Over the past decade New Zealand troops have been sent to the Middle Bosnia, Somalia, and elsewhere.

While there are some sharp tactical disagreements among the capitalist parties around selling off the combat aircraft, the Labour-Alliance initiative is based on general agreement in the ruling class that the equipment used by the New Zealand armed forces is outdated, making their participation in imperialist interventions abroad ineffectual.

Most of the criticism of the government's policy focuses on the weakening of New Zealand's defense alliances with Washington, Canberra, and London. Four former defense chiefs, two former defense secretaries, and a former deputy of defense wrote an open letter in April arguing that the direction of the government posed a serious risk to New Zealand's future security. Bradford, the National Party's defense spokesperson, said, "This will be the week remembered as the point when the Labour-Alliance government made bludging [sponging] off others an integral part of our defense policy. But the plan is not only bludging, it is dangerous given the Asia-Pacific region's arc of instability above Australia."

A May 9 editorial in the Otago Daily Times said, "So Australia is to be our bludger's option, apparently. But the decision to disband the air combat force also means abandoning the most useful continuing working defence link with Australia, the Skyhawk squadron based at Nowra."

The Dominion editorialized May 9: "The new defence policy is based on a naive belief that the big conflicts in the world are all over, or that they'll be fought by other countries. New Zealand, at its paternalistic best, will be available for 'peacekeeping roles....' With yesterday's decisions New Zealand is not prepared for many possible eventualities. And neither should the country assume it can rely on its allies, just as they have discovered they cannot rely on New Zealand."

Supporting the military reorganization announced by the government, the May 9 Press wrote, "The security framework outlined yesterday does mark a major shift in defence policy, but this shift has the twin virtues of coherency and realism." Pointing to the New Zealand rulers' closest defense ally, Australia, the Press continued, "The greatest trans-Tasman military cooperation in half a century has been in East Timor. Central to that are not New Zealand combat aircraft, submarine detectors, or frigates, but our soldiers on the ground. This week's decisions will enhance their effectiveness and their ability to work with the forces of other nations."

Many liberal forces have not only supported but campaigned for the government's military reorganization. For example, the Peace Foundation, a non-government organization, issued an appeal calling for support for the planned defense changes, saying if they succeed, "it will be a useful example to other countries of less militaristic policies being adopted by a traditional U.S. ally." They "support reorienting the New Zealand military into a peacekeeping and South Pacific resource protection force."

The Green Party, which has seven members of parliament, has also come out in support of the government's military policies. The party's defense spokesperson Keith Locke described it as a major step towards "nationhood." Party co-leader Rod Donald said the government's moves, including focusing the six Orion aircraft on fishing zones, was a step in the right direction. "The real threats are to our economic sovereignty in terms of ripping off our fish stocks," he said.

Annalucia Vermunt is a member of the Meat Workers Union.  
 
 
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