New Zealand Takes Step Toward Joining Aukus Security Pact

Ben Westcott
·2 min read
1

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand has agreed to officially explore the potential benefits of joining the Aukus pact, the latest sign that Wellington will contribute to the security agreement mainly aimed at countering China.

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Australia will send a team of officials to New Zealand soon to discuss pillar two of Aukus, which relates to cooperation in strategically sensitive areas including quantum computing and artificial intelligence, the foreign affairs and defense minsters of both countries said after meetings in Melbourne on Thursday. The other members of Aukus are the US and the UK.

“Australian officials have been asked to work together with New Zealand officials to see some of the opportunities that are available in Aukus Two for New Zealand,” Judith Collins, New Zealand’s defense minister, said at a joint news conference. “The opportunities that are open to our space and technology sectors are actually immense.”

The Aukus pact, signed in September 2021, has largely made headlines for the first pillar, in which London and Washington agreed to help Canberra field its own fleet of nuclear-powered submarines by the 2040s. New Zealand, which has a nuclear-free policy, is only interested in pillar two.

Last year, the leaders of the US, the UK and Australia unveiled details of the multibillion-dollar plan for the new fleet of subs that will ply the Pacific to blunt China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.

China has been critical of Aukus, with state-run media repeatedly accusing Australia of trying to become a nuclear threat. Aukus would “harm the peace and stability in the region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing Thursday in Beijing.

Read More: What to Know About Australia’s Aukus Nuclear Sub Deal: QuickTake

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles said the two countries had agreed on greater defense cooperation, adding they shared a “deeply complex” strategic situation.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon previously expressed interest in exploring the benefits that Aukus pillar two could bring to his country. During his first visit to Australia as leader in December, Luxon said the security accord was an “important element” to ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

Other nations including Japan have also expressed interest in pillar two.

Read More: Australia’s PM Hails Aukus Win, Says China Aims to Reshape World

--With assistance from Colum Murphy.

(Updates with comments from China’s Foreign Ministry and more context.)

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