Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand is concerned a new defence pact between China and the Solomon Islands will lead to an increasing militarisation of the Pacific.
But she said she had not yet raised the matter with Chinese President Xi Jinping directly.
China said it had signed the defence agreement with the Solomon Islands on Tuesday. New Zealand, Australia, and the US have all expressed serious concern about the pact, as the Pacific has generally been a region that relied on them rather than China.
Kenzaburo Fukuhara/Getty Images
Ardern said she had not raised the issue with Xi directly yet.
Australia and New Zealand are very concerned that the pact could lead to China building a defence base in the region.
Speaking during her trip to Singapore, Ardern said there was no need for the defence pact as countries in the region could handle the security needs of other Pacific nations.
READ MORE:
* Solomon Islands signs security pact with China
* Singaporean, NZ leaders talk down probability of US joining trans-Pacific trade pact
* NZ defence secretary raises Solomon Islands concerns with Chinese general
“We have continued to reiterate with the Solomons and China our view alongside the Pacific: That collectively, we are ready and available to meet the security needs of our neighbours,” Ardern said.
“We are concerned about the militarisation of the Pacific and we continue to call on the Solomons. To work with the Pacific with any concerns around their security they may have.”
She said the Solomon Islands was free to make its own decisions but they were breaching an earlier agreement within the Pacific Island Forum for nations to discuss defence matters at the forum before making major decisions.
./Stuff
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern unveilling a carved doorway in Singapore’s Garden’s by the Bay.
Ardern said New Zealand had raised these concerns with China via officials but she had not spoken to Xi directly.
The prime minister has repeatedly raised on her trip to Singapore how much she had spoken to Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong directly throughout the pandemic.
She said leaders of larger countries were not quite so available.
Henry Cooke/Stuff
Jacinda Ardern inspects a guard of honour at the Istana Palace in Singapore, alongside Prime Minister Lee of Singapore.
“Let’s be really practical here. There are some leaders we simply don’t drop a Whatsapp to. I would consider President Xi and President Biden to be amongst them,” Ardern said.
China’s role in the region is likely to come up again at Ardern’s next stop – Japan.
It is her first overseas trip since the start of the pandemic and focuses on two high-income Asian nations that could provide some diversification of New Zealand’s exports, which are heavily weighted towards China.
Asked if she would be as concerned about a security pact being signed between a Pacific nation and the USA instead of China, Ardern said any step-up in militarisation would be problematic.
Lee said on Tuesday that China’s support of Russia had come up in the bilateral meeting with Ardern, and that he hoped that it would not destablise the US-China relationship.
Solomon Islands officials has not yet confirmed that the deal itself has been signed.