Pacific ‘less secure’ due to China’s assertiveness, says NZ prime minister

Auckland: The Pacific region is becoming more contested and less secure as China becomes more assertive, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on Monday, outlining the country’s need to work with like-minded partners while still engaging with Beijing.

China’s rise and how it seeks to exert that influence is a major driver of the increasing strategic competition, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, Hipkins said in a speech to the China Business Summit in Auckland.

“Our region is becoming more contested, less predictable, and less secure,” he said. “And that poses challenges for small countries like New Zealand that are reliant on the stability and predictability of international rules for our prosperity and security.”

The relationship needed careful management, but China remained a key trading partner, he added.

Hipkins’ speech at the annual event comes less than a month after he led a successful trade mission to China, New Zealand’s largest trading partner, where he faced some domestic criticism for not being as vocal on human rights and other issues as some had expected.

“In this increasingly complex global environment, our relationship with China will continue to require careful management,” he said.

Wellington has historically taken a more conciliatory approach towards China than Australia or its other Five Eyes security partners Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Common interests and concerns do not mean we will always take the same approach. Sometimes there is tactical strength in a diversity of approaches to achieve the same outcomes,” he said.