ANZUS

ANZUS, the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty, is a collective security agreement among the three countries signed in 1951. It recommits the parties to the purposes of the United Nations and prohibits the use of force except in self-defence, obliges them to maintain their capacity to resist armed attack and to consult on Pacific security matters, and declares that an attack on any party would endanger the peace and safety of the others. It also creates a council of foreign ministers. The treaty was one of several the United States formed between 1949 and 1955 in response to the perceived threat of communism, and New Zealand has been partially suspended from it since 1986 over its nuclear-free zone policy.