Clive Bibby: Defence alliances that will work for us

l wonder why our Prime Minister is placing so much importance on unconfirmed high level talks with President Chi of China just before the election. One might argue that he could better spend his time at home dealing with internal problems- some of which are of his own making, rather than trying to impress an overseas dictator of his competence to lead and speak on behalf of an inconsequential little country at the bottom of the South Pacific.

At the same time, it is interesting to note the flurry of activity amongst those Pacific Nations who are rightly alarmed by Chinese expansionist policies that could seriously affect their and our ability to trade with the rest of the world.

Reuben Steff: Diplomacy isn’t enough – we need deterrence and defence

In December 2021, the Government released a defence assessment declaring that New Zealand’s security environment was being transformed by strategic competition between the United States and China, as well as climate change.

This should have been a major wake-up call for our people, government, academics and media to immediately consider what the “team of 5 million” should do to confront those mounting challenges.

But little has happened and, since 2021, things have got worse. Indeed, the assessment hardly registered.