Peace protest warnings mark start of U.S. Vice President visit to New Zealand

Peace activists said Wednesday they will take to the seas to disrupt any United States navy visits to mark the New Zealand navy's 75th anniversary this year.

The warning came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden touched down in Auckland at the start of a 24-hour visit to New Zealand.

Biden -- the first U.S. vice president to visit New Zealand since 1970 -- is scheduled to hold formal talks with Prime Minister John Key and attend a business and community leaders function.

The Auckland Peace Action (APA) group said it expected Key and Biden to confirm the first visit to New Zealand of a U.S. Navy warship in 32 years to take part in an international fleet review in Auckland in November.

The New Zealand Defence Industry Association (NZDIA) would hold its annual forum and exhibition -- "an international arms fair," APA claimed -- in Auckland to coincide with the warship visit.

APA was planning a flotilla to block the warships and a blockade outside the forum, APA spokesperson Valerie Morse said in a statement.

"Warships have no place in our peaceful country," Morse said.

"We can't stand by while weapons profiteers promote war in our beautiful city."

The warship visit was a significant step towards the New Zealand government's involvement in future U.S. wars, she said.

The alignment of the annual forum with the international fleet review was expected to draw more delegates than last year's record attendance of more than 560 people, with a wider international spectrum, NZDIA chair Bernie Driver said in the forum exhibition prospectus.

Peace campaigners last took to the seas to block U.S. Navy visits in the early 1980s, before the New Zealand government banned visits by nuclear armed and powered vessels.

The U.S. froze New Zealand out of defense cooperation after the ban, but the Washington and Wellington declarations of recent years have seen renewed military contacts. Endit