SYDNEY (Reuters) – New Zealand needs to spend more on its military and strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific to help meet the challenges of great power rivalry and climate change, the government said on Friday amid an ongoing defence review.
Launching the country’s first ever national security strategy, Defence Minister Andrew Little said New Zealand faced more geostrategic challenges than it had in decades.
The inaugural security strategy underscores how China’s rise is upending old norms and behaviours even 9,000 kilometers (5,592 miles) away in Wellington.
“An increasingly powerful China is using all its instruments of national power in ways that can pose challenges to existing international rules and norms,” read one policy document.
Chinese state-sponsored actors had exploited cyber vulnerabilities in ways that undermined New Zealand’s security, said another document that did not provide further details.
However, New Zealand’s military needed more investment, equipment and training to be ready for armed conflict and disaster relief operations, according to a policy document published alongside the strategy. A further review will consider what investments are required.
Little highlighted the potential risks posed by climate change and great power competition in a region “which, up until recently, we thought was protected by its remoteness”.
“The changes in the domestic and international security environment mean our response and preparedness must change too,” Little said. “We need the strategies and the capabilities to respond.”
The wide-ranging review also prioritised deeper defence ties with New Zealand’s only ally, Australia, and closer links to other partners in the region, including the U.S., whose presence in the Indo-Pacific was “critical” for New Zealand’s security.
Long protective of its independence, New Zealand famously banned nuclear-armed and nuclear powered ships from its waters in 1984.
The review, initially scheduled for completion by mid-2024, comes at a time when the country’s defence forces are stretched thin despite significant investments by the Labour government to upgrade parts of its Vietnam-war era airfleet and boost military salaries to improve retention.
Three of the Navy’s nine ships remain idle because of staff shortages, and plans to build a ship suitable for patrolling in the harsh conditions of the Southern Ocean are suspended.
Little has said New Zealand, which spends about 1% of its GDP on defence, needed to make big investments to face these challenges and meet expectations from neighbours and partners for the country to do more.
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
