Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern doesn't believe China will be fussed by New Zealand negotiating an intelligence-sharing framework with Japan.
Ardern met with her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida for the first time on Thursday night (NZT) and agreed the countries would negotiate an arrangement to allow more "seamless sharing of such classified information".
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Ardern said the scheme was similar to that New Zealand has with other countries - like Spain - and would allow information up to "the level of top secret" to be exchanged between the two countries, but they would still have discretion about what was shared.
Asked if she thought the timing of the agreement would be noted by China - which is making a push into the Pacific with a security pact with the Solomons - and be seen as a warning shot, Ardern said: "Well, they didn't for Spain. Why should they anywhere else?"
"It would seem wrong to preclude having such an arrangement with Japan simply because we'd be worried about the perception of it," she said.
"Our relationships are strong. We have these exchanges already. This allows us to put some extra protocols around it that will make it swifter and smoother for those agencies who engage with them."
Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at Otago University, on Friday morning said China wouldn't be "ecstatic" about the deal and could "make some grumbling noises, in diplomatic terms, in the direction of New Zealand".
China has previously been vocal in opposition to groupings between countries that it perceives as trying to constrain it or which have expressed concerns about its activities, such as AUKUS and Five Eyes.
New Zealand and Japan often exchange information, Ardern said, such as following the Tongan eruption this year when agencies exchanged satellite information and assessments.
But this would "put more formality and more structure" around that, she said. Cabinet gave the greenlight to negotiations prior to Ardern's Japan trip, so also prior to the China-Solomons deal being signed.
"There's strong benefit to New Zealand to having ties with partners within our wider region who can give us insight into issues, be they defense, be they security or more broadly, be they natural disasters," Ardern said.
"Having partners within our region who are quickly able to mobilise to give their insights into an event or a strategic priority is is only beneficial to New Zealand."
Ardern's trip to Singapore and Japan this week, her first overseas visits since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, has come amid revelations that China and the Solomon Islands have signed a security cooperation agreement.
The deal, which hasn't been made public, has alarmed New Zealand as well as Australia and the United States, with Ardern expressing concerns it could lead to the militiarisation of the Pacific. A draft version leaked in March suggested a Chinese naval base could be established in the Solomons, but Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare says that's not the intention.
Ardern made the point on Friday that while Russia's invasion of Ukraine represented "a significant disruption to the international rules-based order" there is "also a shared concern that we ensure the international community demonstrates the likely to response to any threat to another nation's territorial integrity".
"It is about demonstrating through global action that there will be swift response should that occur in any other region or country."
She said it was unquestionable that there had been a "growth in the assertiveness in our region". A Defence Assessment released by New Zealand in December reported that China is the globe's "major driver of geopolitical change" and viewed having an increased presence in the Pacific "as part of its natural progression towards its global goals".
Concerns about China's actions, both within its mainland and further afield, were explicitly mentioned in a joint statement from Ardern and Kishida after their meeting. That included concerns the potential militarisation of the South China Sea, the human rights issues in Xinjiang and "erosion of rights and freedoms" in Hong Kong.
The statement said the pair also "reiterated their shared commitment to realise a free and open Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law".
They want to ensure the region "remains inclusive, stable and prosperous, and free from foreign interference and coercion, and that the rights, freedoms and sovereignty of all countries regardless of size or power are protected".
