New Zealand solves a dilemma. Collaborate with the West or make money on trade with China?

NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER JACINDA ARDERN

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Wellington's efforts to maintain good relations with China, its main trading partner, drive a wedge between New Zealand and its traditional Western allies, including the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

There was a fuss on the international scene two weeks ago. In her speech, New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahut refused to join the Five Eyes Alliance's sharp approach to China. The pact, which brings together the intelligence services of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, is increasingly being transformed into an anti-Chinese alliance and this is unacceptable for Wellington, whose main trading partner in Beijing.

This was enthusiastically done by Chinese propaganda, and the Five Eyes were renamed the Four Eyes. The government's Global Times created a narrative, according to which New Zealand freed itself from the captivity of its Beijing's enemy allies and decided to give priority to the benefit of its citizens. The contrast with Australia, which, on the contrary, defies Chinese influence, served particularly well. The text was accompanied by a caricature in which four eyes go on a trip, while the fifth - dressed in the flag of New Zealand - read himself on the map and is about to set off towards the destination shop.

Mahut's speech did not go unnoticed in the West either. The British daily The Times wrote about the "squinting" of the Five Eyes and in the extensive editorial of Wellington clearly condemned the actions. According to him, too much respect for Beijing threatens the exchange of information between the Western Allies, and thus the security of the entire West. Like the Chinese party press, The Times took advantage of the contrast between New Zealand and Australia. However, the opposite was the opposite while New Zealand pursues a de facto naive foreign policy, Australia has already understood that bilateral relations with Beijing are never purely economic.

By far the greatest outrage, however, was clearly evoked by Mahut's remarks in Canberra. A country that is as dependent on Chinese trade as New Zealand, but has taken a diametrically opposed position in diplomacy, is traditionally sensitive to any supportive gesture toward Beijing - especially if it comes from its closest "western" neighbor and can be seen as an imaginary blow. to the back.

The reaction did not take long. One week later, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made it known that his country would increase spending on armaments and intensified military exercises with the Americans. A new 747 million Australian dollars (12.4 billion crowns) will be used to modernize four military bases in the north of the country. The program will begin immediately and end in 2026.

For a long time, Canberra has worked closely with its closest allies in the region. According to the Japanese daily The Japan Times, up to 30,000 American soldiers normally take part in its military exercises. In Darwin, North Australia, there are a crew of 2,200 members of the US Marines.

This is not the first time that New Zealand has emerged as the weakest link in the Five Eyes. He has in the past refused to join the group statements issued by the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia. In the spring of last year, for example, from Wellington, there was a milder word on Beijing about the reduction of democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.

"In such important matters, New Zealand sometimes decides to join like-minded countries, and other times it issues a separate statement," said Wellington at the time. The disappointment of the Western Allies was not exacerbated by the fact that the then Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters reassured the world that his country also shared "deep concerns" about the human rights situation in China.

New Zealand is still striving for a similar double-track. In response to strong allied condemnations, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern signaled a tougher stance on Beijing at least a week ago. "There is no shortage of attention that as China's role in the world strengthens and changes, the differences between our systems - and the interests and values ​​that shape them - can be harder reconciled," Ardern said at the Auckland summit just trade with China.

However, analysts agree in the comments that these rhetorical exercises do not change the fundamental dilemma of Wellington's foreign policy. The economic and geopolitical interests of the island state remain in fundamental conflict.