This could be a watershed week for New Zealand’s international relations. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, is heading to Washington, D.C., for a full week of meetings. The surprisingly lengthy trip just happens to coincide with a major trilateral summit of leaders from the United States, Japan, and the Philippines. And a media report over … Read more
At the culmination of his recent visit to India from March 10-13, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters remarked that the India-New Zealand relationship was entering a “new phase.” Since the 1990s India has moved from being a “peripheral concern” for New Zealand to a country with which it has tried to establish a “core … Read more
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington is his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy coincidence that the visit is taking … Read more
New Zealand’s new trade minister is a busy man. Just weeks after taking office in late November, Todd McClay was also elected as vice-chair for the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO). A major gathering of trade ministers from the WTO’s 166 members, MC13 will take place from February 26-29 in … Read more
Early reactions to the ANZMIN 2+2 meeting of Australia and New Zealand’s foreign and defense ministers suggest that New Zealand’s recently elected coalition government is breaking with the country’s traditional foreign policy independence. On February 1, New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defense Minister Judith Collins met with Australia’s Deputy … Read more
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the deployment of New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) troops to support the U.S.-led military response to the attacks on commercial shipping from Houthis in Yemen that began on November 19. In announcing the contribution, Luxon played down its uniqueness, saying “choosing to support action in the Middle East is … Read more
New Zealand’s new right-wing government is making dramatic changes to foreign policy. Prime Minister Chris Luxon of the National Party has privileged the priorities of his two coalition partners: New Zealand First and ACT. A core agenda of this coalition government will be to dismantle and undermine progress on Māori rights domestically, and Indigenous rights … Read more
New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-U.S. positioning when it comes to the Pacific. Peters sought to align New Zealand more closely with the United States under his “Pacific Reset” policy that he launched … Read more
Over 100 world leaders are expected to attend this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which starts this Thursday. Among the VIPs confirmed for the Dubai summit are the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Brazil’s President Lula da Silva – along with King Charles and Pope Francis. U.S. … Read more
The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit is an event circled and highlighted in Indo-Pacific countries’ diplomatic calendars. However, New Zealand’s Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon has opted to cross it off the calendar, as he is preoccupied negotiating the shape and policy direction of the country’s next government. The three coalition parties – Luxon’s National … Read more