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DE RUEHWL #0742 2832223
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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

C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000742 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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. 
KEEGAN