The radical foreign policy change happened under Ardern, and that is a good thing

Don Brash and Helen Clark write:

A few days ago, New Zealand’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence, after just a few hours’ conversation with their Australian counterparts and absolutely no advance warning to the New Zealand public, appeared to abandon our independent foreign policy in favour of unqualified support for America’s “China containment policy”.

They appeared to indicate that New Zealand is keen to participate in the Aukus pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States – a pact quite explicitly designed to keep China in its “proper” subordinate place in the scheme of things – albeit not in the nuclear aspects of that pact.

Our foreign policy has been changing towards China, and this is due to three things.

1. China changing course from the 1990s and 2000s policy of greater economic and political liberalisation to less freedom, more threats against Taiwan, more repression at home, breaking promises over Hong Kong and imposing economic sanctions against countries that criticise it (like Australia over Covid-19), cyberattacks, lying over Covid-19,
2. Russia invading Ukraine
3. China effectively backing Russia, and working with them to undermine a rules based world order

The recalibration of our foreign policy began significantly under Ardern, such as:

• Abandoning opposition to unilateral sanctions with Russia-specific legislation
• Provided military training to Ukraine troops
• Attended June 22 NATO summit
• In April 2022 Nannie Mahuta attended NATO Foreign Ministers summit
• Joined the AP4 grouping which is now partnering with NATO (Australia, Japan, NZ, South Korea)
• Defence Minister Andrew Little said NZ could soon join non-nuclear components of the AUKUS pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and United States.

I commented in 2022:

Ardern is probably the most pro-NATO Labour PM since Peter Fraser. Not because her views have changed, but because the world has changed. Again we should all fully support her Government’s work in this area.

Robert Ayson noted:

Ardern presided over a distinct hardening of Wellington’s position on Beijing …

As Ardern herself indicated last year in one of her most important foreign policy speeches, New Zealand was finding it “harder to reconcile” its interests and values with China’s behaviour.

So yes our relationship with China is changing, but this is not a radical change by the current Government, it is a progressive change that started under Labour. Nothing Collins or Peters have said is a radical or even large change from what occurred under Ardern and Hipkins.