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NZ govt silent on Wikileaks cables

Published: 12:43PM Sunday December 12, 2010 Source: ONE News

The government will not comment on a leaked diplomatic cable which indicates the New Zealand-United States intelligence relationship was fully restored in August last year.

The previously secret cable from the US Embassy in Wellington was one of several released by the WikiLeaks website which have been obtained by the Sunday Star-Times.

Confirmation that the relationship was being restored came from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in October last year.

"We are resuming our intelligence-sharing co-operation, which we think is very significant," she said at a press conference.

At the time, Prime Minister John Key would not comment and today that had not changed.

"It is the New Zealand government's longstanding practice not to comment on intelligence matters," a spokesman for Key told NZPA.

Among the cables was one which said Key was personally pro-American.

"The Prime Minister is not surprised or concerned about the pro-American reference," the spokesman said.

"The PM has been welcoming of the improvement in the relationship over the last few years to the point where it's the best in 25 years, as seen in the recent visit by Secretary of State Clinton."

Other cables indicated moves to increase the "defence engagement" in early 2008, with both governments agreeing publicity should be avoided.

Green MP Keith Locke today said critical information on the country's relations with the world's superpower should not be kept from New Zealanders.

"It seems the Key government wanted to avoid any public backlash following such an announcement.

"Kiwis are proud of our nuclear-free stance, and our refusal to join the invasion of Iraq, and don't want us to get fully into bed with the United States government," he said.

Locke said it is unacceptable that Kiwis were not made aware of the ties. He said the information was even kept from parliament.

The confirmation that the Waihopai spy station feeds communications intelligence into the "Five Eyes intelligence community", which also includes the US, UK, Australia and Canada, has also upset the Greens.

"The US is able to filter this information to meet its own needs, which includes spying on UN officials - including UNDP head Helen Clark - as exposed in Wikileaks documents made public earlier.

"Hopefully, the Wikileaks documents will provoke a more open discussion on the nature of our intelligence ties with the United States, and whether operating a spy station at Waihopai is consistent with New Zealand's independent foreign policy," he said.

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