French President Emmanuel Macron wants to assert Europe's strategic autonomy. Photo / Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to assert Europe's strategic autonomy. Photo / Getty Images
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will head to Paris later this month to participate in a French-led forum designed to build a coalition of like-minded Indo-Pacific states who support the rules-based multilateral order.
The meeting will be chaired by France, in its role as President of the Council of theEuropean Union, a role which rotates around all 27 EU Member states, who each get to hold the title for a term of six months.
The forum will bring together foreign ministers of several Indo-Pacific nations with European diplomats and officials including Foreign Ministers of the 27 EU Member States, high-ranking foreign affairs officials from the EU itself, including the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
It is understood Mahuta has been invited to the meeting to be held in Paris on February 22, and that she plans to attend.
Two aspects of the guest list have piqued foreign affairs watchers' interest.
The first is France's decision to extend an invitation to Australia, following fallout over the Aukus alliance, when Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison abruptly canned a deal to buy conventionally-powered submarines from France in favour of a nuclear sub deal with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Also of note is France's decision not to invite two Indo-Pacific powers: China and the US.
France distributed aid following the Tongan volcano crisis.
Canterbury University Professor Anne-Marie Brady says leaving those two nations off the guest list is "not so much a snub as a tactic to build a grouping of small and medium states, who then can dialogue with the great powers".
She added that leaving China and the US out of the forum was "a way to not get bogged down in the US-China confrontation, while talking about the core issues".
French President Emmanuel Macron supports fostering the strategic autonomy of the EU, a concept that means the bloc can operate without depending on old defence and trade ties with other powers like the US and China. This has become increasingly relevant as US isolationism has made it a less reliable security partner, and China's increasingly uncompromising human rights record and militarism make it a complicated trade partner.
"Macron is promoting the importance of a multipolar order," Brady said.
"France is trying to play an intermediary role internationally, and bring together a wide coalition of like-minded states who support the rules-based multilateral order. France, like many countries, including New Zealand, fears a return to the era of 'might is right'" she said.
The United States will be notably absent from the meeting. Photo / Pool
Macron signed France's foreign policy up to the "Indo-Pacific" concept, which had been more traditionally associated with Japan and Australia. New Zealand has also become a believer in the concept - which means something slightly different to each nation that backs it.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last year that "we have embraced the concept of an Indo-Pacific as the wider home for New Zealand, locating Aotearoa in a larger ecosystem of nations and regions that includes East Asia, the Pacific, the Indian sub-continent and the Pacific Rim".
Mahuta tweeted support for the US's Indo-Pacific strategy just yesterday.
China is less of a fan, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi having dismissed the concept as an "attention-grabbing idea" that "will dissipate like ocean foam."
France is also keen to promote the "Global Gateway" scheme, which is designed to promise sustainable infrastructure. Politico reported European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying it would provide an alternative to "dependencies" on China.
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to assert Europe's strategic autonomy. Photo / Getty Images
Brady said it was significant New Zealand decided to attend because its security "relies on the rules-based, multilateral order".
"New Zealand and France have already partnered on the Christchurch Call, a broad coalition of states and tech companies who have joined together to eliminate terrorist and violent extremism online.
"It's clear France values New Zealand's support in this new initiative," she said.
The trip comes as the Government ramps up its strategy to reconnect with the post-pandemic world. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Tuesday she would fly to the United States in May to undertake trade engagement on the West Coast, focused on New Zealand's high-technology export sectors.
She will also make a trip to the East Coast, where she will be the principal speaker at Harvard University's Commencement in May.
