Is anti-nuclear New Zealand ‘playing with fire’ as it mulls military tech role in Aukus alliance?

New Zealand – a champion of non-nuclear security globally – wishes to contribute to the development of military technology in Aukus’ non-nuclear pillar

The country is ‘weighing the prospect’ of an Aukus role, worried it might be ‘shut out of critical discussions by three of its closest allies’, analysts say

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New Zealand was “seriously weighing the prospect” because of anxieties it might be “shut out of critical discussions by three of its closest allies”, the US, Britain and Australia. Photo: dpa

Published: 9:30am, 14 Apr 2023Updated: 10:46am, 14 Apr 2023

As New Zealand weighs becoming an associate member of the Aukus alliance, analysts have questioned if such a move would hinder its strategic goals and render the anti-nuclear state as being one to “have its cake and eat it”.

New Zealand’s new defence minister Andrew Little last month said that White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell had raised with him the prospect of New Zealand becoming a non-nuclear partner of Aukus – the trilateral security arrangement between the United States, Australia and Britain that would supply nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra to boost its attack capability in the event of a conflict.

Little later said New Zealand wished to contribute to the development of cutting-edge military technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced information technology in the non-nuclear second “pillar” of Aukus.

Robert Patman, international relations professor at the University of Otago, said New Zealand was “seriously weighing the prospect” because of anxieties it might be “shut out of critical discussions by three of its closest allies” on new and future state-of-the-art defence technologies in a vital geopolitical region.

He questioned if Wellington – a key actor in promoting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – could “have its cake and eat it” by championing non-nuclear security globally and yet align itself with an arrangement that seems to be stretching the limits of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Aukus deal uses a clause that allows fissile material, the key component in nuclear weapons, to be transferred to a non-nuclear state without the need for it to be inspected by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency when it is not used for “explosive use”.

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Patman said one of New Zealand’s concerns was whether being an associate Aukus member would help or hinder the country’s core strategic goals, one of which was to diversify trade away from China, where most of its exports go.