London: New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has declined to reveal what her country would do if diplomacy failed to prevent a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
After Australia and the UK warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had a direct parallel with China’s intentions for Taiwan. Ardern, outlining her foreign policy approach to the prestigious foreign policy think tank Chatham House in London, said diplomacy and dialogue were the key to preventing conflict.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaking at Chatham House on Friday.Credit:YouTube
Ardern, like Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, was invited to attend this week’s NATO summit in Madrid after which leaders declared China a threat to peace for the first time.
China bristled at the label and also at Albanese for his comments, made to The Australian Financial Review en route to the summit, in which he drew a direct parallel between Russia’s invasion and China’s intentions for Taiwan, which it regards as its territory.
But Ardern said the lesson of the invasion of Ukraine for the Indo-Pacific was that war was never the answer.
“Diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy until it’s proven that it has failed, dialogue and diplomacy are incredibly important,” Ardern told a packed-out gathering at the think tank’s headquarters in St James on Friday (London time).
“Here [in the Indo-Pacific] I would be loathed to assume any particular trajectory, let’s continue to make sure that we’re using diplomacy at every turn to try and prevent conflict in our region or any region because if there’s one lesson from the war in Ukraine, it’s that wars are devastating and never the answer,” she said.
“But equally, I think the message we want the world to take from the illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine is that there will be a response.”
When pressed by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on why this approach had failed to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin and if it would work with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ardern said she was not the person to comment on what led to the invasion of Ukraine.
She also declined to state what New Zealand would do if her dialogue and diplomacy strategy failed and Xi invaded Taiwan.
China’s President Xi Jinping gives a speech in Hong Kong on Friday.Credit:AP
“What I will continue to push for is that we never just simply make an assumption that nothing can be done … and lead to nations — not naming names — being completely isolated because in a way, then, you create an inevitability.
“So that is why a New Zealand perspective is dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, but also speak up when you see things that obviously sit outside your expectations,” she said.
She later added that militarisation was not required for the region to feel safe.
Ardern said New Zealand’s foreign policy was “fiercely independent” and relied on using multilateral institutions. She conceded they were not fit for purpose and needed reform, but said they gave an important voice to countries with small populations that would otherwise be geographically isolated.
She said an example of New Zealand’s multilateral approach was its introduction of a sanctions regime which it did not have until Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year.
She also said that it would be wrong for New Zealand to criticise China’s renewed presence in the Pacific region, saying Beijing had always had strong relations with Pacific nations.
“China has been a partner in aid and development projects in our regions for many years and it’s wrong for us to call out the increased presence when we welcome engagement on the Pacific region’s terms from others,” she said.
She said countries should always remain sovereign and added that climate change was the greatest security priority in the Pacific.
“Climate change is a significant long-term security and development issue in Pacific Island countries and territories and it threatens aspects and it puts their very existence at risk,” she said.
Ardern’s policy catchphrase, coined during some of New Zealand’s harsh pandemic lockdowns, is “Be Strong, Be Kind.”
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
Most Viewed in World
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
