Aukus: Clark and Brash on same page

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

A surprising op-ed duo of former prime minister Helen Clark (1999-2008) and her once political opponent Don Brash (2003-2006 National Party leader) appeared in the NZ Herald on Tuesday, urging the Government not to join the Aukus security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and United States — “a pact quite explicitly designed to keep China in its ‘proper’ subordinate place”.

The left-wing internationalist and right-wing nationalist — their post-parliamentary careers diverged even further, with Clark heading the United Nations Development Programme from 2009-2017, while Brash leads Hobson’s Pledge, the lobby group that opposes affirmative action for Māori — covered some of the history of New Zealand’s so-called independent foreign policy since we were ejected from the Anzus alliance in 1985 over our nuclear-free policy; and our more recent relationship with China, that has been so beneficial as our now dominant trading partner.

They noted that until recently, our friendship with the United States had appeared to be “entirely consistent with our growing relationship with China” . . . until US policy changed under Donald Trump, and it began seeing China as a geopolitical rival.

They chose to ignore the changes in China under an increasingly autocratic Xi Jinping — bullying its neighbours, threatening a military takeover of Taiwan, and looking to project strength across the Pacific.

Their op-ed finished by calling on the Prime Minister to “either reassert New Zealand’s independent foreign policy by making it clear that we want no part of Aukus, or any other alliance designed to make an enemy of our largest trading partner, or acknowledge that we have indeed abandoned any attempt to maintain that policy”.

As NZ Herald deputy political editor Thomas Coughlan wrote last year: “. . .

it’s not always clear what there is about New Zealand’s foreign policy that would allow us to lay claim to being significantly more independent than anyone else”. He quoted our permanent representative to the UN, Rosemary Banks, saying our insistence on having an independent foreign policy showed a strain of self-delusion: “It’s become a mantra . . . but what does it really mean and how is it different from any other country putting its national interest first?”

Yes, New Zealand has to tread a fine line here, but the world is a more dangerous place than it used to be and the nature of defending our interests is changing markedly too.

Joining Aukus would significantly boost our military capabilities and interoperability with our closest allies. At the same time, we should work hard at maintaining as good a relationship with China as possible, and as warranted by its actions.