New Zealand begins talks on joining Aukus defence pact

Wellington’s top diplomat headed to Australia on Wednesday for an inaugural joint meeting of foreign and defence ministers to discuss joining Aukus

‘Pillar two’ of the Aukus defence partnership is separate from the first pillar designed to deliver nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia

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A Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the type Australia is set to acquire under the Aukus pact. Photo: US Navy/Handout

Published: 2:02pm, 31 Jan 2024

New Zealand will start talks on Wednesday with Australia about cooperating with the Aukus trilateral defence partnership between Australia, Britain and the US, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said, adding Washington needed to do more in the Pacific to counter other political influences there.

Peters heads to Australia on Wednesday for an inaugural joint meeting of New Zealand and Australian foreign and defence ministers, and said the talks would also canvas what joining an expanded Aukus grouping would mean for Wellington.

“Pillar two [of Aukus] is the examination we’re going to look at beginning tonight and tomorrow and going forward,” he said in an interview.

New Zealand’s three-time Foreign Minister Winston Peters pictured in Wellington on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

“Pillar two” of the Aukus pact is separate from the first pillar designed to deliver nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia, but what any new agreement would entail is not yet public. New Zealand has had a nuclear free policy since the 1980s and there has been no indication this will change.

Peters also said the United States had neglected the Pacific since the Second World War, and that had created a vacuum that others had filled.

“They’ve have certainly upped their game, but they need to work with greater intensity on the immediate problems at the ground level of many of the island nations,” he said.

Peters did not mention China by name, but jostling between Washington and Beijing for influence in the Pacific has increased in recent years over issues including security, defence, aid and infrastructure.