On February 1, local time, the foreign ministers and defense ministers of New Zealand and Australia held the "2+2" talks for the first time in Melbourne. The two sides focused on foreign policy, security and defense approaches, reaffirmed the need to strengthen the Australia-New Zealand alliance to address evolving geostrategic challenges, and said that strengthening the security alliance is essential to safeguard their national interests and promote what they call "peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific."
New Zealand sent its foreign and defense ministers to Australia this time, and there was an important issue, and that was "AUKS". Judging from the news released by the two sides after the meeting, the discussion on New Zealand's accession to "Aukus" has been officially put on the agenda. Previously, New Zealand has been cautious about joining AUKUS, on the one hand, based on the denuclearization policy that the country has pursued since the 80s of the last century; On the other hand, joining the agreement is also contrary to the spirit of New Zealand's independent foreign policy.
However, since March last year, New Zealand's then-defense minister Little said that New Zealand is considering cooperation with the "Aukus" composed of the United States, Britain and Australia, but the cooperation will not involve nuclear technology. This was seen as the beginning of a loosening of New Zealand's position. At the same time, the United States has stepped up its lobbying efforts. In July of the same year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited New Zealand, claiming that the door of "Aukus" was open to New Zealand, and wooing New Zealand on the condition of sharing ** development and procurement projects. New Zealand's prime minister at the time, Hipkins, responded that he was open to limited participation in Aukus. A few days later, New Zealand released its first strategic document and the first phase of the national defense assessment report, emphasizing the important position of the United States in New Zealand's defense cooperation, as well as Australia's close ally, and said that it would make up for the lack of strategic depth in its country and improve its multi-faceted strategic capabilities through regional cooperation. ** It is noted that the two documents mention China a total of 15 times, portraying China as a so-called "potential threat" to regional security. After New Zealand** 2023, the newly inaugurated conservative coalition** has shown greater interest in joining Aukus. New Zealand's new prime minister, Christopher Racson, said during a visit to Australia in December last year that New Zealand would study the pros and cons of joining AUKUS, as well as possible opportunities to participate in new technology cooperation. However, Lacson also reiterated the country's position on denuclearization.
Chen Hong, executive director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at East China Normal University, pointed out that the change in New Zealand's attitude is internally due to the unfriendly posture of the Priority Party and the DAP towards China in the newly established coalition. From the external point of view, the United States wants to completely destroy the situation of denuclearization in the South Pacific.
Chen Hong said that "AUKUS" is an important piece of the military puzzle of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, and the United States may retreat politically and economically, but the military will not. Once New Zealand joins the "Aukus", it will seriously undermine the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, and countries and international organizations in the Asia-Pacific region are bound to be very vigilant about this, and New Zealand still needs the necessary political wisdom and rational judgment in this regard.
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