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HANOI - The possibility of a visit to New Zealand next year by United States President George W. Bush or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice marks a significant improvement in New Zealand's relationship with the superpower.
Both were invited to New Zealand by their counterparts, Prime Minister Helen
Clark and Foreign Minister Winston Peters, at the Hanoi Apec summit that ended last night.
Nothing unusual there. Invitations are a dime a dozen. The difference this time is that they are actually contemplating it.
Any visit would occur around the next Apec summit, in Sydney in September, and be linked to a meeting between President Bush and Pacific Island states.
Therein lies the reason for the shift over the past couple of years.
It is not a matter of the United States "forgiving" New Zealand its anti-nuclear legislation.
It is more that the usefulness of New Zealand to the US, especially within the Pacific, now outweighs the use of continuing to treat New Zealand as a delinquent.
The purpose of a Pacific-White House encounter is not to establish closer ties between the US and the micro states. It will leave that to New Zealand and Australia.
It is a symbolic meeting to tell other powers - China in particular - it has not abandoned its interests in the region.
And it is a measure of recognition of the often heartbreaking work that New Zealand and Australia undertake in the Pacific to promote stability and democracy.
Ironically, the fact that New Zealand exercises a relatively independent foreign policy - especially on nuclear non-proliferation and in its strong relationship with China - makes it even more valuable to the US than if it were regarded as a lackey.
Such independence in the hands of a now-veteran Prime Minister by international standards means New Zealand is genuinely carrying more credibility than it has pretended to in the past across a range of issues.
And the number of Cold War warriors in the Pentagon who can't forgive or forget has been falling with time. Former Deputy Secretary of State Rich Armitage, for instance, has become an honorary New Zealander for standing in its corner for a free-trade agreement - though that has been put on the back-burner for now.
Christopher Hill, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Pacific since President Bush was re-elected in 2004, has had a major influence on the improved relationship.
He has attended two Pacific Island Forums and has visited New Zealand.
The greater level of interest by the US in the Pacific has accelerated under Mr Peters' watch, a little galling perhaps for predecessor Phil Goff.
He has now met Condoleezza Rice five times.
Mr Peters' has been no more responsible for the changing mood than Mr Goff would have been.
But he has played his part.
With a possible White House visit on the cards for next year, Hanoi will soon become a distant memory.
