Defence Minister Judith Collins has signalled “big budget” investment in our defence force, saying “we cannot hide at this end of the world anymore” in light of China’s naval activity in the Tasman Sea this week.
The Chinese navy currently has three ships located in international waters off the coast of Australia – around 350 nautical miles northeast of Bass Strait.
The task group has conducted two live firing exercises at short notice which forced aircraft to divert their flight paths.
The New Zealand Defence Force is monitoring the activity of the fleet with HMNZS Te Kaha and P-8A Poseidon patrol flights.
Collins told 1News China was within its rights to conduct these drills but that she believes it is “best practice” to give 12 to 24 hours’ notice of any live firing exercises.
“Having said that, there’s no reason to think the People’s Liberation Army Navy has breached international law or the UN Convention on the law of the sea.
“They’re allowed to do what they’re doing, and it’s just better practice to give better notice.”
For more on the ships’ latest activity in the Tasman Sea, go to TVNZ+
It was clear New Zealand was no more a “long way away from anywhere” due to modern technology and defence, Collins said.
“We need to clearly step up our game.”
Asked if New Zealand’s military was weak or underfunded, Collins said our defence staff were “exceptionally strong” and that they could not find a “more positive group of people who are keen to deploy at all moments”.
“But that’s not good enough. We need to do more, and we certainly need to spend a lot more to get ourselves back out of the ICU and into the ward.”
New Zealand’s position in the Ring of Fire meant we have access to minerals and rare earth materials that other countries do not, Collins said.
“They want them, and we have to understand it’s like living with an enormous treasury, but with a tiny little lock, and we need to make sure that lock is bigger.”
Three Chinese navy ships have carried out two live firing exercises in the Tasman in recent days. (Source: 1News)
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said this week that the country would be spending more on defence and that a Defence Capability Plan would be revealed in due course.
Collins echoed these remarks and said it would be announced in the “relatively short term”.
“This is a big budget item for us, and it’s going to have to be for quite a long term to make up for the 35 years of feeling that we’re living in this wonderful world where nothing bad could happen.
“We have to do this, we have it do it well, and we have to do it in a careful and sustainable manner, and it can’t be a one-off excitement and sugar rush. It’s got to be something that actually stays with us and stays in our psyche.
“We cannot hide at this end of the world anymore.”
‘Aggressive act’ – Expert on Chinese navy exercises
Canterbury University international relations professor Anne-Marie Brady said the message of the live-firing exercises were that China wants to rule the waves in the Pacific.
“This is a very aggressive act. There is no reason for China to be engaging in live military exercises in the Tasman Sea, and the Chinese government did not inform Australia or New Zealand that they were going to engage in these exercises,” she said.
“Doing live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea, a peaceful body of water which is not a sea line communication for China, is sending a message to New Zealand and Australia that China wants to rule the waves in the Pacific.”
Brady, who is an expert in Chinese politics, said China had a long-term strategy to change the strategic set up of the Pacific established in World War II.
“They are steadily doing so through deal use activities and through what’s called grey zone activities.”
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Harbin, northern China on February 14. (Source: 1News)
The Government had “severely underfunded” the New Zealand Defence Force for decades, with Brady saying it was “strong in spirit but very poor in resources”.
“We cannot patrol our realm of New Zealand, we can’t defend our own maritime borders or the wider maritime zone called the realm of New Zealand, and so we need to step up and defend our interests.
“We need a big increase in their budget so that they can increase salaries and then attract back their well-trained people who want to work in the NZDF. Thousands of NZDF personnel were made redundant last year, so we’ve got really competent people who can immediately come back into the role.”
Drone technology was a suggested area of investment as the warships required to protect our waters would “take too long”, Brady said.
“We need to go to the cutting edge, and we need to do that really, really fast.”
Brady suggested New Zealand look to relationships with other powers who do not want to see a China-dominated order.
“States like Japan, Korea, India and France are logical partners for us to step up our engagement with.”
