1951 ANZUS

The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS or ANZUS Treaty) is the 1951 collective security agreement which binds Australia and New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the United States, to co-operate on military matters in the Pacific Ocean region. It provides that an armed attack on any of the three parties would be dangerous to the others, and that each should act to meet the common threat. The treaty was one of the series that the United States formed in the 1949-55 era as part of its collective response to the threat of communism during the Cold War. New Zealand was suspended from ANZUS in 1986 as it initiated a nuclear-free zone in its territorial waters.