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Aukus alliance
This Week in AsiaPolitics

New Zealand mulls joining Aukus, but will it be retreat ‘towards the Anglosphere’?

  • Wellington’s current administration is increasingly moving towards a ‘hawkish and security-driven view’ of the region, analysts say
  • Amid a ‘more challenging’ world order, New Zealand is mulling joining ‘pillar two’ of the Aukus defence pact that focuses on shared military technology

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(From left) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Point Loma naval base in San Diego as part of Aukus. New Zealand will consider joining Aukus, a move analysts said would be a retreat “towards the Anglosphere” and reneging on the country’s pledge of non-nuclear security. Photo: AP
Maria Siow
New Zealand will consider joining the second pillar of the Aukus security pact, a move analysts said would be a retreat “towards the Anglosphere”, reneging on the country’s pledge of non-nuclear security and even threatening its independent foreign policy.
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Wellington’s current administration is increasingly moving towards a “hawkish and security-driven view” of the region, analysts added.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said last Wednesday Wellington would look into the benefits of joining pillar two of the Aukus defence pact that focuses on shared military technology, amid a “more challenging” world order.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who took office last month, said Wellington would look into the benefits of joining pillar two of the Aukus defence pact that focuses on shared military technology, amid a “more challenging” world order. Photo: Bloomberg
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who took office last month, said Wellington would look into the benefits of joining pillar two of the Aukus defence pact that focuses on shared military technology, amid a “more challenging” world order. Photo: Bloomberg
The trilateral security bloc – made up of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States – was established in September 2021 and has two pillars, with the first to deliver nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia.

The second pillar is focused on the joint development of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, as well as boosting intelligence sharing.

Joining Aukus would be seen by many Southeast Asian and Pacific Island countries as a sign that New Zealand is “moving back towards the Anglosphere and compromising its commitment to non-nuclear security”, said Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at the University of Otago.
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“Moreover, there is no certainty that [US President] Joe Biden will be re-elected in 2024 and the nightmare for New Zealand would be in an Aukus led by Donald Trump,” Patman said.
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