New Zealand did revamp its military troops and “reset” its foreign policy to coincide with traditional friends, the government’s prime minister said Thursday.
Premier Christopher Luxon said the nation could no longer rely on its” splendid isolation” provided by its geography in his first major foreign policy address since taking office last year.
” The basis of our unusual plan update is our engagement with longtime lovers”, Luxon told the Lowy Institute, a foreign policy think tank in Sydney, Australia.
He cited the United States, Britain, Nato, and Pacific neighbors as being” we know best and with whom we have deep pools of believe,” pointing out a significant shift in relations between the land and traditional partners in response to years of closer economic ties with China.
Although Luxon acknowledged that China is still New Zealand’s biggest trading partner and” a country with undoubted influence,” he added that having different values would mean” there are issues on which we cannot and will not agree”
In March, Wellington said a Chinese” state-sponsored group” was behind a 2021 malicious cyber attack that infiltrated sensitive government computer systems.
China refuted hacking claims and accused critical New Zealanders of acting as Washington’s puppets.
Sketching “tectonic shifts” in regional geopolitics, Luxon warned that New Zealand must be clear-eyed about the risk of regional conflict.
” We ca n’t achieve prosperity without security”, he said.
” New Zealand must also be a participant and contributor, not a passive observer.”
To that end, a defence review is expected to focus on replacing and upgrading the country’s military capabilities.
New Zealand is considering partnering with AUKUS to develop cutting-edge military technologies like undersea drones, hypersonic missiles, and artificial intelligence.
AUKUS currently groups Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Former prime minister Helen Clark and other well-known New Zealanders have warned against irking China and growing American dependence.
