OPINION / VIEWPOINT
Why Canberra is uneasy with Wellington’s ties with Beijing
Published: Feb 23, 2021 11:02 PM

Labor Party leader Jacinda Ardern (front), the incumbent prime minister, addresses a press conference in Auckland, New Zealand, on Oct. 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Lei)

Certain Australian media outlets have recently paid close attention to the trans-Tasman spats and the role China plays in them. 

China-New Zealand ties have been relatively warm recently, but the relationship between China and Australia has come to a low ebb in the past year. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Monday published an article entitled, "What is driving the frostiness between Australia and New Zealand?" It said, "Tensions between Canberra and Wellington have been building for years…But it is the question of how to handle the growing assertiveness of China that has caused the biggest tensions." The article also mentioned that, "there remains significant unease in Canberra over New Zealand's positioning on China."

It indicates that there are an increasing number of political and academic elites in Australia that have attached greater importance to Wellington's relations with Beijing. This potentially reflects Australia's present complicated, or even sour grape mentality toward New Zealand. When Canberra proactively follows Washington's lead to confront China, the country continues to harm its ties with the latter.

When it comes to New Zealand, instead of following Washington's cues to contain China, it has pragmatically handled the relationship with the latter. The bilateral ties have been further developed, which effectively benefits New Zealand's economy. Furthermore, Wellington's closer ties with Beijing have not triggered sound denouncements from other Western countries, including the US. This may irritate Australia. 

Australia is sensitive toward New Zealand's relations with China. Australia sees itself as a dominant country in Oceania and has long believed that all regional countries, including New Zealand, need to keep consistent with it in dealing with relations with other countries. New Zealand sees its relationship with Australia as its closest and most important. Overall, Wellington respects Canberra's policies in most cases. But in terms of dealing with Beijing, Wellington tends to be more pragmatic. It can more objectively handle its relations with China. As a member of the Five Eyes, New Zealand keeps its relative independence over its China policy. Australia thinks that instead of adopting a China policy similar to its own, New Zealand does not share the position of Western countries and is taking its own path.

Some Australian political elites and scholars think China is attempting to drive a wedge in the Trans-Tasman relations and suspect that China is boosting ties with New Zealand in order to pile more pressure on Australia. For example, in January, the two countries signed an upgrade to their existing free trade agreement. Some Australians see this as a signal of pressure being put on them. Not only Australians, but some Americans, also harbor such notions.

The US and Australia want to see Western countries, including New Zealand, solidify their positions in order to cope with China. However, New Zealand is an independent sovereign country. It needs to be responsible for its own national interests, rather than those of the US and Australia. Wellington has a keen understanding about how to defend its own interests. A case in point: when the Trump administration ramped up its pressure on checking China, New Zealand must have been under US pressure. But many of its moves and rhetoric over China, including its stance toward Huawei and Hong Kong affairs tend to be pragmatic.

China has no intention to drive a wedge between the two countries. China's attitudes toward the two are normal responses based on their different stances. Australia's anti-China policies and actions are not welcomed by China, and Canberra will have to pay for its provocative China policy.  

Countries like the US and Australia want to rope Aotearoa back into their anti-China camp. Therefore in the future, both Washington and Canberra may increase their pressure on Wellington to take their sides. 

But New Zealand is not a country that easily bends under pressure and whose foreign policy is based on its own national interests. For example, during the Cold War, New Zealand banned visits by US nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships, leading Washington to suspend its ANZUS obligations to New Zealand. But Aotearoa later didn't give in because of this. Since the US hasn't managed to make Kiwis budge, how can Australia hope to?

To sum up, although Australia and the US are trying to influence New Zealand's China policy, China-New Zealand relations will remain relatively stable for a period of time to come.

The author is a professor at the Guangdong Research Institute for International Strategies. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn