NZ defense minister pledges more deployments, co-operation
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — New Zealand Army soldiers are seen during a training exercise. (New Zealand Defense Force photo)
By Greg Torode
SINGAPORE - New Zealand is seeking to expand Asia-Pacific military deployments in its quest to show it was now "pulling our weight" with increased spending on its armed forces, the South Pacific nation's defence minister said in Singapore on Friday.
Defence minister Judith Collins raised the prospect of welcoming increased warship visits to the country, deepening joint training and other cooperative efforts with its traditional defence partners including ally Australia, the United States, Singapore, Japan, Britain and the Philippines.
"So we're open for business, we're back in the world and we're pulling our weight," Collins told Reuters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue defence meeting in Singapore.
The New Zealand government announced in April that it would boost defence spending by NZ$9 billion ($5 billion) over the next four years, with the aim of nearly doubling spending to 2% as a share of gross domestic product in the next eight years amid growing international tensions.
The new spending is a significant boost to the defence budget of just under NZ$5 billion in 2024/25, and follows its first national security review in 2023.
The review called for more military spending and stronger ties with Indo-Pacific nations to tackle issues of climate change and strategic competition between the West, and China and Russia.
The USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, visited Wellington earlier this month and further visits from partners could be expected, Collins said. The ship was just the third U.S. warship to visit in 40 years.
When asked about Chinese concerns at New Zealand's more assertive military posture, she said Beijing realised Wellington had "actually got a spine", but "I don't think China stays awake at night worrying about us."
"I don't think we're any threat to China, or anyone else really," Collins said, describing relations with China, an important trading partner, as "very mature".
Regional military attaches and analysts say that after years of relative neglect, New Zealand still had to improve its ability to sustainably project power given its small, ageing navy and air force but supporting its traditional relationships were key.
Nuclear-free since the 1980s, New Zealand maintains an independent foreign policy but remains part of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network with the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada.
Deployments of its four new Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft are being closely watched, given how they can help other countries plug gaps in the hunt for Chinese submarines, analysts say.
Collins said New Zealand and Australian pilots now had the ability to fly each other's P-8 and transport planes - a sign of growing "interoperability" in action.
Collins said the P-8s had already flown up towards Canada and she expected further patrols in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean.
"I think you'll see quite a lot of that," she said.
"We go everywhere. Everywhere where we're wanted we go, if we can."
(Reporting by Greg Torode in Singapore; editing by Shri Navaratnam and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
