A wave of national outrage and general incomprehension followed the apparent denial of entry of HMNZS Te Kaha (and the tanker Endeavour) into Pearl Harbour after its participation in this year’s Rimpac naval exercise in the waters around Hawaii. After all our efforts over the years to improve relations with the United States (including the recent signing of the Washington Declaration), we were ‘snubbed’ and sent round the corner to a commercial harbour. This may have seemed petty but we really do need to remember how all this began and what the law still is regarding visits to our ports by US ships. If an American naval ship turned up here, are we sure it would not be subjected to protest (which certainly didn’t happen to our ships), or even turned away (and not simply to a harbour next door)?
