Government Must Walk ‘Careful Path’ Standing Up Against China, Nicola Willis Says

Morning
Report

The
government has to walk a “careful path”, standing up against
China trampling on the Pacific’s anti-nuclear values while
recognising it’s our biggest trading partner, Finance
Minister Nicola Willis says.

China on Monday, test-launched
a long-range ballistic missile with a dummy warhead into
the South Pacific.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
said that was unacceptable, unwelcome and concerning, and
the government had made that clear to China.

Willis
told Morning Report China had challenged the
Pacific’s staunch anti-nuclear values.

“We as Pacific
countries, need to stand together and say uh-uh, not in our
backyard, not okay.”

But she acknowledged China being
New Zealand’s biggest trading partner added
complexity.

“We have to walk a careful path of our
own, where we do speak up for our values, speak up for our
interests, but also recognise that those interests are
multiple.

“We do have economic interests, we do have
trade interests, we do have interests in a nuclear-free
Pacific.”

Willis said the activity highlighted the
need to work closely with Pacific partners including
Australia to have interoperable defence forces that can look
after the region.

Defence was on the agenda for
Luxon’s meeting
with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese last
month.

Luxon said the two countries’ militaries
would be more aligned in future and that process had already
started.

Labour’s deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni said
there was cross-party consensus about the government’s
response to China.

“The comments that I’ve seen come
from the government on this action from China are certainly
comments that we agree with,” she said.

“Our priority
is the protection of our Pacific region, and I think that
we’re on the same
page.”

© Scoop Media