US embassy cable - 05WELLINGTON293

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000293 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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