Ardern calls out China, Russia
PM tells leaders at Nato of changing global environment
Even New Zealand is targeted by Russian mis- and dis-information. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ended her visit to the Nato summit in Madrid warning that the unstable international environment was not limited to Europe — she called out China for its recent challenging of international norms and Russia for its information warfare in the Pacific.
“The shift in environment we are currently seeing is not limited to one region.
“In our neighbourhood, we see the mounting pressure on the international rules-based order. We see attempts to disrupt and destabilise — even New Zealand is targeted by Russian mis- and dis-information,” Ardern said.
She added that “China has in recent times also become more assertive and more willing to challenge international rules and norms”.
The Nato summit has been dominated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the alliance also discussed a new “Strategic Concept”, a document that sets out how Nato sees the world security picture. These are drawn up once every decade, and the new strategic concept, adopted at this summit, includes a strong rebuke of China’s assertiveness.
But Ardern also cautioned against the alliance seeing the world in black and white, and oversimplifying a complicated international picture.
She urged members to “resist the temptation to simplify the
increasingly complex world in which we live”.
The remarks came in Ardern’s address to one of the key events of the summit. It was closed to the public, but Ardern released her remarks for publication.
Ardern told the conference that New Zealand had not come to Madrid to “expand our military alliances”.
“We are here to contribute to a world that lessens the need for anyone
to call on them,” she said, adding that New Zealand had a “fiercely held independent foreign policy”.
Nato is an alliance of Northern Hemisphere democracies. Ardern told the alliance that New Zealand was “one of the oldest and most stable liberal democracies”.
But, perhaps mindful of the wars launched in the name of democracy, or the fact that New Zealand retains good relations with several nondemocracies,
Ardern said New Zealand’s foreign policy interventions were not “based on political ideology, but rather, the simple concept that when our shared humanity is undermined, we all suffer”.
Before the speech, she said those particular remarks were directed at a domestic New Zealand audience, rather than the Nato members.
“I’ve seen some of the commentary and the discussion at home. There has been no question from the New Zealand side that we have ever been seeking that, so why have any qualms about restating it,” Ardern said.
She said the remarks on China were made in the context of New Zealand having the knowledge to share from the Pacific region.
“As a member of the Pacific region we have a very close watch and we have the ability to observe where we see escalation, and we have seen escalation in our region,” Ardern said.
Ardern said she wanted to see deescalation and diplomacy in the region. “Rather than heightening, we seek to use diplomacy and dialogue to back the temperature,” Ardern said.
She also came with a “request” of Nato — not to allow the war to trigger an arms race, and to continue progress towards disarmament.
“Our solidarity with Ukraine must be matched by an equal commitment to strengthen international institutions, multilateral forums, and disarmament,” Ardern said.
“New Zealand is a Pacific nation. Our region bears the scars of decades of nuclear testing. It was because of these lessons that New Zealand has long declared itself proudly nuclearfree. Some may observe this status and assume us to have the naive privilege of such a position. I would argue, the world can’t afford anything less,” she said. — NZ Herald