Suggested activities. l Write out all the information from the text (in short sentences) about:

l Write out all the information from the text (in short sentences) about:

• the two secret service agents

• the policy of France in respect of the agents

• New Zealand's stand on the matter

• the way the dispute was resolved

• the role the French press played in this case

• the attitude of European countries to the dispute

m Answer the following questions:

Text3

The Rainbow Warrior sinking did not have serious consequences for peace. It was an officially inspired military operation with strictly limited intentions. Nevertheless, since the UN Charter was signed international lawyers have increasingly addressed the problem of low-level uses of force. French action clearly fell within the broad concept of «international delinquency» encompassing acts short of belligerency such as «violation of the dignity of a foreign State, violation of foreign territorial supremacy, or any other internationally illegal act». The attack and the infringement of New Zealand sovereignty were universally condemned as contrary to international law, and the French government's Memorandum presented to the Cuellar, UN General Secretary, conceded in section 5 that the abuse of New Zealand sovereignty had been illegal.

The French government initially claimed that its agents had merely engaged in «surveillance». A more accurate description would be «spying». Unfortunately, as Richard Falk, a famous jurist, observed: «traditional international law is remarkably oblivious to the peacetime practice of espionage»; and while Articles 29–31 of the 1907 Hague Convention deal with spying in wartime, there is no peacetime equivalent. Many jurists, however, would agree with Falk who characterised espionage as illegal but tolerated in many countries. By contrast, Julius Stone argued that spying itself was not illegal and advocated «reciprocally tolerated espionage» for the superpowers as a kind of confidence-building measure. But such an approach is inappropriate to New Zealand and France for whom, as far as one can tell, reciprocal spying is hardly an assumed aspect of their relationship. In the event the New Zealand authorities ignored the «surveillance» by French agents and concentrated on the attack itself.

§ Vocabulary notes