New Zealand discusses joining the expanded AUKUS grouping of Australia, the UK and the US

New Zealand will begin negotiations with Australia on cooperation within the framework of the trilateral defense partnership AUKUS. According to Reuters, this was stated by Foreign Minister Winston Peters, UNN reports.

Details

Peters is traveling to Australia on Wednesday for the inaugural joint meeting of the foreign and defense ministers of New Zealand and Australia. He said the talks will also discuss New Zealand's accession to the expanded AUKUS grouping of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The second component of the AUKUS will be considered, which is separate from the first component, designed to deliver nuclear submarines to Australia. It has not yet been disclosed what any new agreement will include. New Zealand has had a non-nuclear policy since the 1980s, which has damaged defense ties with the United States, and there is no sign that this will change.

Peters also noted that the United States has neglected the Pacific region since World War II, and this has created a vacuum that others have filled.

They have certainly upped their game, but they need to work with greater intensity on pressing issues at the level of many island states

Context

In recent years, the struggle for influence in the Pacific region has intensified between Washington and Beijing over issues such as security, defense, aid, and infrastructure.

Peters, who served as foreign minister from 2005 to 2008 and again from 2017 to 2020, returned to the post in late 2023 when a new Conservative coalition government was elected.

In 2017, Peters launched the "Pacific Reset," directing aid and increasing engagement with the region in an effort to engage small neighboring Pacific island states at a time when China was dramatically increasing its presence in the region. Peters criticized the previous government for not taking a stand on political issues.