Professor Alexander Gillespie: Anzac then and now: as trans‑Tasman defence relations get closer, NZ must be on guard

Anzac Day 2026 arrives in tumultuous times: unresolved conflict in the Middle East, the erosion of the old international order, the famous Doomsday Clock set closer to midnight than ever before.

Without doubt, this brings New Zealand’s defence relationship with its closest neighbour (and only formal ally) Australia into sharp focus.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: New Zealand’s new reality

For the first time since the Second World War, New Zealand is being asked to make major economic decisions under direct threat from an ally.

New Zealand is negotiating a minerals deal with the United States. On Tuesday, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Bede Corry met US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau in Washington. A joint statement confirmed talks on a “critical minerals framework”. The talks are moving fast.

Professor Robert G Patman: As Luxon heads to China, his government’s pivot toward the US is a stumbling block

Ahead of his first visit to China, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been at pains to present meetings with Chinese premier Xi Jinping and other leaders as advancing New Zealand’s best interests.

But there is arguably a degree of cognitive dissonance involved, given the government’s increasing strategic entanglement with the United States – specifically, the administration of President Donald Trump.

Philip Crump: Chinese Warships in the Tasman Sea: An Unprecedented Pacific Signal

The presence of three Chinese warships - the cruiser Zunyi, the frigate Hengyang, and the supply ship Weishanhu - conducting live-firing exercises in the Tasman Sea has sparked alarm in New Zealand and Australia.

Positioned roughly 340 nautical miles east of New South Wales, after earlier nearing within 150 nautical miles of Sydney, the Chinese naval task group has disrupted commercial flight paths and drawn intense scrutiny.

Centrist: Robert Patman - New Zealand must seek strategic independence in an unstable world

Robert Patman, International Relations expert at the University of Otago, warns that New Zealand must adopt strategic independence to navigate the challenges of 2025.

With a global order marked by declining US influence, rising geopolitical tensions, and transboundary crises, Patman argues that New Zealand must bolster defence spending, deepen ties with Australia, and pursue independent policies on AUKUS, Ukraine, Gaza, and climate change.

Simon O'Connor: A confusing picture

China is both charming and threatening New Zealand at the same time. Are our business, media, and political leaders taking notice or happy to just ignore and play along?

China – or more accurately, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – is clearly on a charm offensive here in New Zealand. Willing politicians, both current and former, along with business people and some in media, are loudly proclaiming how important the trading relationship between our two countries is; happily amplifying the words of the CCP Ambassador as he gives speeches at various fora around the country; and sharing lots of smiling photos from various Chinese embassy/consular hosted events.

Bob Edlin: Hipkins seems blinkered about China ....

Hipkins seems blinkered about China – if it has not invaded another country, why can’t the Dalai Lama go home to Tibet?

Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who has committed his party to keeping New Zealand out of the AUKUS security pact if it returns to power, was born in September, 1978. That was almost 30 years after China invaded Tibet.

But while other people born since 1950 are aware of the invasion and its consequences, they obviously did not pop up in Hipkins’ school lessons – or perhaps they did, and he flunked his history tests.

Geoffrey Miller: How the US election could affect New Zealand foreign policy

Change is coming to America.

Next month’s elections are likely to pave the way for an overhaul of US foreign policy– regardless of whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the presidency.

Geoffrey Miller: Christopher Luxon’s hawkish foreign policy address in Sydney

New Zealand is not just on the same page, but is now in lockstep with Australia.

That was the general theme of keynote foreign policy address by New Zealand’s Prime Minister to a Sydney thinktank on Thursday.

Christopher Luxon’s 20-minute speech took a decisively hawkish tone.

Dr Bryce Edwards: The Aukus decision, and the undermining of NZ foreign policy debate

Former Defence Minister Andrew Little has relaunched himself back into political debate, speaking out this week in favour of joining the new Aukus military alliance. This pact between the US, Australia, and the UK is increasingly seen as an attempt to combat China’s place in the Asia-Pacific region.

Brian Easton: Balancing External Security and the Economy

New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China?

For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. Britain, then the international hegemon, provided the security and the main export market together with the capital which flowed into this country. New Zealand even twice fought on the other side of the world (three times if you include the South African War) as a part of the deal.

Clive Bibby: Are we worthy custodians of our proud heritage?

When watching the D-Day landing footages on TV recently, I couldn’t help comparing that generation who were prepared to die, as so many others did, in order to keep us free, with the current generation and wondering whether today’s young men and women would have responded to the call as their grandparents had done so magnificently. 

As one commentator said: “there can be no doubt that their effort on that day will go down amongst the greatest examples of self sacrifice in the history of mankind.”
The fact that it changed the course and ultimately the outcome of the war seems almost incidental compared to the heroism displayed by so many on this and other battlefields during the entirety of World War 2.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: China's bullyboy tactics set to backfire with Wellington

Chinese Ambassador Wang Xiaolong’s speech at the China Business Summit 2024 in Auckland on Monday was, at first glance, a typical diplomatic address. He extolled the strength of China’s economy, the benefits of bilateral trade, and the importance of the New Zealand-China relationship.

But beneath the polished veneer, a sterner message was lurking. Prime Minister Luxon spoke at the same event about the need for a “China And” strategy to diversify New Zealand’s economic partnerships and uphold security in the South China Sea. In light of Luxon’s address, the Ambassador’s speech took on a more pointed tone.

Robert G Patman: Confused or playing for time?

Confused or playing for time? 3 possible reasons NZ is taking so long to make a call on AUKUS

New Zealand governments have been actively exploring the option of joining pillar two of AUKUS for over a year now. But according to foreign minister Winston Peters, the government is “a long way from this point of being able to make such a decision”.

Chris Trotter: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into 'Pillar 2' – or they are going to China

Had Zheng He's fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed to make landfall on the Pacific coast of North America half-a-century before Columbus. The colonisation of the Americas, from East to West, would have consolidated China’s global hegemony irreversibly. The cramped and fratricidal states of the European peninsula would have remained minor players in a Chinese world.

In the worst geopolitical nightmares of the United States and its Pacific allies, a China grown as powerful as the empire which sent forth Zheng He’s mighty fleet, threatens to transform the Pacific into a Chinese lake.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 3/5/24

Winston Peters delivers a speech about NZ’s relationship with China but media focus on Bob Carr’s talk of legal action

Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council.

One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 2/5/24

Ruckus over AUKUS – Labour demands Peters step down as Foreign Minister, but he still had the job this afternoon

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs.

The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised former Australian MP Bob Carr’s views on the security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Bizarre Claims

On Richard Prebble and Don Brash's Bizarre Claims about the link between Trade and Military Alliances

Last week, former ACT Party leader & Labour Minister, Richard Prebble, who reads this blog, wrote an opinion piece for Main Steam Media behemoth, the NZ Herald, with the blazing headline, "It is lunacy to join a military alliance aimed at our biggest trading partner". Don Brash, former National Party Leader & RBNZ Governor, together with Helen Clark, our former PM, have been writing articles with the same theme.

JC: Past PMs Should Butt Out

There are too many past Prime Ministers who, having left office, continue to interfere in the politics of the present time. Current Prime Ministers who have been elected to do a job do not need constant input from their predecessors. Their jobs are hard enough without past ‘know it alls’ putting in their tuppence worth. I might agree with their utterances but the world continues to change and evolve and what might have been a suitable decision in their day is not necessarily the case now.

Geoffrey Miller: Aukus or not, New Zealand’s foreign policy is being remade

This could be a watershed week for New Zealand’s international relations.

Winston Peters, the foreign minister, is heading to Washington DC 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.