The white paper recommends that New Zealand's armed forces be reconfigured to make a more effective contribution to American-led military operations in world trouble spots. Photo / Patrick Gower
...The big question is whether Clinton will restore joint military exercises - axed by Washington after New Zealand's adoption of its anti-nuclear policy in the 1980s.There are indications that the Wellington Declaration marking Clinton's two-day stopover will not contain any such official assurances that normal business has resumed.
Even so, Clinton will find it hard to ignore the white paper's sentiment.
It is the clearest and strongest statement of the Government's intention to realign foreign and defence policies more closely to traditional allies such as the United States, Britain and Canada....
...The Army will get more front-line soldiers. The number of SAS troops will be boosted. The Anzac frigates will be upgraded.
All this is about "credible combat capacity" so - as Defence Minister Wayne Mapp puts it - New Zealand can contribute "meaningfully" in regional matters and well away from our immediate sphere of interest....
