New Zealand ‘must never be seen as a proxy’, former PM Helen Clark warns
Helen Clark spent nine years running New Zealand and eight more running the United Nations’ development arm. Now, the former prime minister has a warning for the country she once led: do not let the scramble for Pacific security deals crowd out its much-vaunted independent foreign policy tradition. Speaking to This Week in Asia in Singapore on Tuesday, Clark argued that Wellington’s recent flurry…
New Zealand's former Prime Minister Helen Clark has warned against the country being perceived as a proxy in the scramble for Pacific security deals. Speaking to This Week in Asia in Singapore, Clark said that recent defense diplomacy moves by Wellington, including a defence cooperation pact with Papua New Guinea and talks of joining an Australia-Fiji alliance, risked undermining the Pacific's status as a "zone of peace."
Clark emphasized that New Zealand's foreign policy has long been based on its independence from superpower blocs and a commitment to keeping the Pacific free of nuclear weapons, both of which are now being tested. She criticized Australia's pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus pact with the United States and Britain, arguing that it could lead to an American base for nuclear submarines in the region.
Clark questioned the premise of Aukus, highlighting the unsustainable nature of US primacy in East Asia and the Western Pacific, and pointing to the recent Iran war as evidence of US overreach. She urged New Zealand to maintain a principled stance, independent of great power rivalry, and urged cautious engagement with China to ensure peaceful coexistence.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
