2 October 2007

National's foreign policy blind to major global concerns

Green Party Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Keith Locke says National's 'new' foreign policy fails to address the key global issues of the 21st century.

"You would look in vain in this policy for any clues as to what stance a Key-led government would take towards the current crisis in Burma - or towards the real prospect in 2008 of a war with Iran waged by our traditional allies. Would National's newly independent foreign policy stance keep us out of such a conflict ? On this and so many other important points, the document is either vague or silent," Mr Locke says.

"In fact, if you search the document for such terms as 'human rights' 'democracy', 'justice' 'equality' and 'disarmament' you come up with a big fat zero. However, the word 'trade' appears some seventy times. Mr Key seems to have leapt back to the days of Sir Robert Muldoon, who once famously declared that New Zealand's foreign policy WAS trade.'

"By endorsing our nuclear free status, National differs from George Bush - but there is little else in the document that the American president would disagree with. Mr Bush would love the high priority given to increasing 'defence co-operation' and 'intelligence arrangements' with the US, and the promotion of terrorism as the greatest global danger.

"The people suffering under the heel of dictatorships in Burma, Zimbabwe and in much of the Middle East would beg to differ.

"The two billion people still living on $2 a day would probably not agree with the priority given to fighting terrorism. They want debt relief, more genuine development aid and a fairer global trading system. They would certainly not agree with National's dismissal of aid for 'poverty elimination' as a 'mantra'. There is nothing in National's document about how to improve New Zealand's aid level up to 0.7% of Gross National Income by the global target date of 2015.

"This is not a new foreign policy course, just the same old pro-American policy in new clothing," Mr Locke says.

ENDS

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