Carter and Mao

The trilateral foreign policy pursued by the Carter administration gives proof of the accuracy of Mao Tsetung's analysis. Looking at the world as reactionaries, the trilateralists are working to unite West Europe and Japan under US leadership to confront the Third World and the Soviet Union. Their policy is to unite with the leading second world countries.

How does New Zealand fit into this analysis? New Zealand has fully developed capitalist relations of production in both town and countryside. It is an agrarian and light manufacturing country. New Zealand is strongly linked with foreign imperialism, particularly US, British and Japanese imperialism. Soviet social-imperialism is now taking an interest in penetrating New Zealand, a process taking place side by side with an increasing political and ideological campaign to increase Soviet influence, an instance of which was the International Convention for Peace Action earlier this year. New Zealand is linked economically with foreign imperialism through trading patterns, direct foreign investments, overseas loans, ties between individual domestic monopoly capitalist and foreign capital, and international agencies such as the IMF, the World Bank and GATT. Important political ties are made through the American alliance, embodied in ANZUS, and the Five Power Defence Arrangement.

But New Zealand has certain similarities with Third World countries. Its mam exports are primary products (wool, meat and dairy produce) to the developed capitalist countries, and its main emports are raw materials, machinery, fuel and so on from sources controlled by foreign imperialism. Even the Monetary and Economic Council has noted these characteristics.

The protracted economic crisis in which we are enmeshed and the growth of internal reactionary policies are integrally linked with New Zealand's distorted economic development and dependence on foreign imperialism. The economic policies pursued by both the Third Labour Government and the Muldoon Government, essentially identical despite the shadow-boxing in Parliament, have increased our dependence.

Whatever fake "lefts" may say, defence of the vital interests of the ordinary people of New Zealand require us to break the grip of foreign imperialism on New Zealand, other wise New Zealand will sink ever deeper into economic stagnation. Even Hugh Templeton has raised the spectre of New Zealand taking the road of Argentina.

New Zealand's best interest lie with the Third World countries, not with the two superpowers, the biggest international oppressors and exploiters. Some policies which help defend and extend New Zealand's independence are: support for the New Economic Order and better trading relations between rich arid poor countries; stop the sell-out of New Zealand's natural resources to foreign imperialism; an independent, non-aligned foreign policy for New Zealand; US out [unclear: !] USSR stay out!; a nuclear weapon-free peace zone in the South Pacific.