New Zealand needs to spend more on its military and strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific to help meet the challenges of great power rivalry and climate change, the government said amid an ongoing defence review. Launching the country’s first ever national security strategy, defence minister Andrew Little said New Zealand faced more geostrategic challenges than it had in decades. The inaugural security strategy underscores how China’s rise is upending old norms and behaviours even 9,000km (5,592m) away in Wellington. “An increasingly powerful China is using all its instruments…
Tag: New Zealand
New Zealand PM says Pacific region less secure amid China’s rise
New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins has said that the Pacific region is becoming “more contested, less predictable, and less secure” as China becomes more assertive. Hipkins said it was important that New Zealand continues to engage with China to listen and to build dialogue. “Our region is becoming more contested, less predictable, and less secure,” Hipkins said in a speech to the China Business Summit on Monday. “And that poses challenges for small countries like New Zealand that are reliant on the stability and predictability of international rules for…
Solomon Islands denies policing deal with China poses ‘threat’ to Pacific security
Solomon Islands has said that its policing pact with China poses no “threat” to the Pacific, rebuking western powers that raised fears the deal could inflame regional tensions. Prime minister Manasseh Sogavare inked a raft of deals during a trip to China this week, including an agreement allowing Beijing to extend its police presence in the developing Pacific nation until 2025. The US, Australia and New Zealand have expressed unease about the policing “implementation plan”, urging Beijing to soothe concerns by releasing more details. In response, the Solomon Islands government…
Xi Jinping praises ‘great importance’ of China-New Zealand relations
Xi Jinping has praised the “great importance” of China’s relationship with its “friend and partner” New Zealand, as Chris Hipkins visits Beijing to promote trade amid growing geopolitical tensions. Speaking after the two leaders met in the Chinese capital on Tuesday evening, Xi told reporters through an interpreter: “I myself [am] attaching great importance to our relations with New Zealand,” and “China always views New Zealand as a friend and a partner”. “Your visit this time is very meaningful,” Xi said, addressing Hipkins. “The international community, especially countries in our…
New Zealand PM disagrees with Joe Biden over Xi Jinping ‘dictator’ remark
New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins has disagreed with US President Joe Biden’s remark that Xi Jinping is a “dictator”, as he prepares to meet the Chinese leader on an official trade trip to China. “No, and the form of government that China has is a matter for the Chinese people,” Hipkins told reporters when asked about Biden’s description. Asked whether the Chinese people had a say in the form their government took, he said: “if they wanted to change their system of government, then that would be a matter…
New Zealand and Fiji strike defence deal amid rising Pacific tensions
New Zealand and Fiji have signed a defence agreement to strengthen military training and maritime security, that comes amid rising tensions over security in the region. The agreement, signed by New Zealand’s defence minister, Andrew Little, and Fijian minister for home affairs and immigration, Pio Tikoduadua, in Suva on Wednesday, sets a legal framework for military cooperation between the two countries in each other’s territories. The agreement will also address disaster and humanitarian response coordination, and the challenges of climate change. Little said the deal “reflects the value New Zealand…
As New Zealand reshapes ties with China, foreign interference must be brought out of the shadows | Sam Sachdeva
With more than $30bn of new spending, a mere $9m initiative in New Zealand’s latest budget might seem too trivial to mention. Yet the New Zealand government’s recent decision to fund an investigation into the impact of foreign interference on ethnic communities is a small step towards tackling an outsized problem: how to deal with meddling from foreign states, our largest trading partner included. China may not have been mentioned by name, but efforts by the superpower to exert influence are of growing concern to New Zealand politicians and policymakers.…
U.S. Recognition of Tiny Pacific Country Reshapes Its New Zealand Ties
The Cook Islands had given up on its dream of United Nations membership and, with it, greater autonomy and influence on the world stage. New Zealand, the country that once governed the small Pacific nation and still exercises power there, had rejected its repeated entreaties. But now that President Biden has provided a stamp of approval — with formal recognition for the Cook Islands at a summit of Pacific nations in September — the country of 18,000 people has shifted course, moving toward joining international bodies with renewed vigor. What…
New Zealand woman takes Chinese media site to human rights tribunal over ban
A woman is taking New Zealand’s biggest Chinese-language media site to a human rights review tribunal after she claims she was banned from its online message board for posting political content. May Moncur migrated from China 20 years ago and is a permanent resident of New Zealand. The Auckland employment advocate has used the New Zealand-based media company SkyKiwi for more than 15 years, regularly posting links about migrant exploitation or offering employment advice on its most popular message board, “FML”. The company promotes itself as the most influential Chinese…
Jacinda Ardern raises Taiwan with Xi Jinping at Apec meeting
Jacinda Ardern has spoken with Xi Jinping about cooperation between New Zealand and China, while also raising areas of tension and warning that international norms that had benefited the two countries were “being tested”. The New Zealand prime minister and the Chinese president met for about 50 minutes – running over the scheduled half hour – on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Bangkok. It was their first in-person meeting since 2019. A New Zealand government statement said Ardern had spoken of “significant areas of bilateral cooperation including trade,…