– New Zealand “worried” about China’s actions
Wellington said he was “seriously concerned” about Beijing’s actions in the Pacific.
Published today at 1:18 a.m.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters.
AFP
New Zealand’s foreign minister on Friday denounced China’s desire to increase its security presence in the Pacific islands, warning against actions likely to “destabilize” or weaken regional security.
“China has a long presence in the Pacific, but we are seriously concerned about its increased engagement in Pacific security sectors,” Winston Peters said in a speech on relations with China, a rare criticism of China. New Zealand’s largest trading partner. China prompted a series of Pacific island states to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact with the Solomon Islands in 2022.
Chinese police, research and military vessels are increasingly present in the region, sparking a struggle for influence with the United States and concerns that the Asia-Pacific region, riven by violence during the Second World War, once again became the scene of a battle between great powers.
China, New Zealand’s largest market
“We do not want to see developments that destabilize the institutions and agreements that have long underpinned the security of our region,” Winston Peters said at the New Zealand-China Council in Auckland.
China is New Zealand’s largest export market and a major customer for its dairy, meat and other goods.
Wellington has long been one of Beijing’s closest partners among Western democracies. Nonetheless, relations have deteriorated in recent years as China seeks to expand its military and diplomatic power across part of the Pacific and beyond.
Winston Peters is part of a recently elected conservative center-right coalition that has moved toward closer relations with Australia and the United States, and less warm ones with Beijing. New Zealand’s cybersecurity agency has linked a Chinese “state-backed” group known as “APT40” to a cyberattack on parliamentary services.
New Zealand’s political class traditionally avoids comments or actions likely to displease China, for fear of incurring damaging political or economic sanctions like those imposed by Beijing on Australia and Canada. Beijing rejects allegations of hacking and political interference while accusing some smaller countries of being puppets of Washington.
AFP
Did you find an error? Please report it to us.
0 comments
