By Lucy Craymer
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s new prime minister, Christopher Luxon, said he will discuss economic ties, defence and shared interests in the Indo-Pacific region during talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Sydney on Wednesday.
It is Luxon’s first official trip abroad since his conservative government was sworn in earlier this month and the prime minister has said he intends to boost engagement with key partners including Australia, China and the United States.
“We have very strong allies and partners, and we want to make sure that we are a good partner to them and so it’s making sure we don’t neglect any of these relationships,” Luxon, a former airline executive, said ahead of the visit to Australia.
Foreign policy and defence are largely bipartisan issues in New Zealand and the current government is following a similar path to the previous Labour government, which had become increasingly concerned about China’s growing influence in the Pacific.
David Capie, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University, said he expected the new government to pay more attention to its traditional partners such as those in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group including Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States.
“While it’s tempting to focus on what’s new, I think on a host of foreign policy trade and security issues there is bipartisan shared ground and there will be a lot of continuity as well,” he said.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Luxon have already met with several Pacific leaders and Peters has been to Fiji. Trade Minister Todd McClay is currently travelling to Singapore and India.
The new government has confirmed it is looking at the possibility of sharing military but not nuclear technology with the AUKUS grouping of Australia, Britain and the United States.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Stephen Coates)
