NZ cuddles up to the Empire

Do New Zealanders want this? I don't think so.

U.S., New Zealand sign defense agreement

New Zealand and the United States have signed an agreement to bolster defense co-operation in the Asia-Pacific region, both governments said on Wednesday, signaling a further thaw in relations after a 25-year stand-off.

Daily News,

19 June, 2012

The two countries said they would hold regular high-level dialogue and co-operate on maritime security, counter-terrorism, and peacekeeping operations, paving the way to closer military ties between Washington and Wellington.

"This high-level arrangement recognizes the significant security co-operation that exists between New Zealand and the U.S. within the context of our independent foreign policy, and seeks to build upon that co-operation in the years ahead," New Zealand Defense Minister Jonathan Coleman said.

The latest agreement, dubbed the Washington Declaration, follows the 2010 Wellington Declaration, which opened the door to renewed U.S.-New Zealand defense links breached in the mid-1980s when New Zealand declared itself nuclear-free.

Washington lifted its ban on military links between the two countries, resulting in U.S. Marines training in New Zealand and ships from the two navies holding exercises earlier this year, the first in two decades.