Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out how he sees New Zealand's foreign policy challenges, warning we face a more volatile and uncertain world.
Recently overseas on a major defence and security expedition, Luxon said it was important to orientate his Government's foreign policy around the Indo-Pacific with a priority around South East Asia.
But at the same time as that region grapples with the rise of China and increased strategic competition, in the Middle East tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Iran threaten a broader war.
Sitting down with Newshub's Political Editor Jenna Lynch for a mid-air interview on Saturday night, Luxon warned we're facing "a more volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world".
"It is incredibly challenging times," he told Newshub.
"But I think that's why I'm acting in New Zealand's national interest, and our national interest comprises both security and economics.
"And whereas once upon a time they might have been compartmentalised, they're now very much integrated and very interdependent on each other.
"If we don't have prosperity in the region, we create instability, which then creates security risks. If we don't have security and a good platform of stability in the region, then we can't advance our economic interests."
The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has led to Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen carrying out retaliatory attacks in the Red Sea, disrupting global shipping and impacting New Zealand's international trade.
In response, Luxon announced in January the deployment of a Defence Force team to "uphold maritime security" in the Red Sea as part of an international coalition.
But would we ever send crews into the South China Sea? Luxon said that's a "very premature conversation".
"We've got deep military ties, as I said yesterday, with Singapore and Malaysia in particular. We want to be able to deepen our ties in the Philippines as well," he told Newshub.
"But we're a long way from that. We need to make sure we've got... some legal framework around that so we can transit our resources through Philippine airports, for example."
Luxon also described a decision on whether to join US exercises in the region as "hypothetical and speculative."
"We've got to make sure we've got some very foundational basics in place before we could contemplate all of that."
AUKUS discussions
Luxon also told Lynch he thought AUKUS is "very good for regional stability and security across the [Indo-Pacific] region".
AUKUS - a defence and security pact between Australia, the UK and the US - has two pillars, the second aimed at developing and sharing advanced military technology.
Seen as a counter to China's growing geopolitical power, the possibility of other countries - including New Zealand - joining Pillar 2 has been floated. That's something Labour is concerned about.
"Well, they're making very strong noises that they’re going to join it," said Labour foreign affairs spokesperson David Parker.
"There hasn't been much public scrutiny about what the risks and the benefits are of joining it. We think that’s a major shift in foreign policy."
But Luxon said his Government's position is the same as the previous administration's, "which is that we are open to exploring what Pillar 2 could mean".
"It's been a very undefined thing," he added.
"We keep throwing the term Pillar 2 around. It's only in the last couple of weeks that actually a process has started to be in place where we can start to have our officials have conversations. That'll take place in the coming months."
