Rt. Hon Winston Peters

Asia Pacific Security Innovation Forum

Virtual Meeting

9am, 13 March 2023

Thank you for that warm welcome.

Distinguished guests, yours is an important Summit. How to strengthen cooperation among democracies in the 21st Century, the role of small states in power-driven global politics, and how to respond to the violation of international norms to build resilience, is the challenge of this century.

It is not a challenge democracies can afford to lose.

We know from history that the failure to act against norm-breaking powers leads inevitably to wider instability from which we all suffer. But how do we make the most of our voices, which may be small on their own but gain power when spoken collectively, as one?

Having been privileged to serve twice as New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, spanning 15 years of our foreign policy, these observations about the international order are intended to help contextualize and focus the Summit’s discussion on the role of small states in a troubled world.

These remarks will also center firmly on our part of the world, the Asia-Pacific region, to ground the discussion in our region.

Now, sovereign governments have agency to adapt or transform domestic policy settings as they see fit, bound only by their own judgments about what is possible and what is not.

In foreign policy, in contrast, government agency is far more prescribed by the inter-dependent nature of the life of nations. New Zealand cannot simply live alone in peace and prosperity. Our own well-being is entwined with the well-being of other nations, near and far from our shores.

Their vital interests will be different from ours, some markedly so, as will their challenges.

Understanding these differences – in history, culture and in patterns of economic development – is key to advancing our shared understanding while enhancing fraternal bonds with other nations.

Moving nimbly to rhythms not of our own making adds layers of complexity not seen in other policy spheres.

What guides the diplomatic dance?

Taking the world as it is has guided New Zealand foreign policy ever since we began charting our own course. We need to have our eyes wide open.

But we have, on occasion, also challenged others to see how the world could be. By doing so we forged an independent foreign policy.

Part of that independent foreign policy has been a strong preference for a rules-based order and a commitment to work with other, like-minded democracies to solve global challenges, whether they be security-focused, economic or environmental.

As a small, trade dependent state, New Zealand has always sought to secure peace and prosperity through multi-lateral institutions and meetings. That will never change.

What has also underpinned our foreign policy has been consistency and continuity. Consistency and continuity is strengthened in New Zealand’s case by our foreign policy objectives transcending political party interests.

Country first, political party second. That is the New Zealand way, irrespective of which party leads government. Not every country can claim this, but as one of only nine countries that have held uninterrupted democratic elections since the 1850s, New Zealand is proud of its historical roots in democratic norms.

Over that 15-year experience, we have sharpened our foreign policy focus on our neighbourhood, the vast ‘Blue Continent.’ It has become during that period a far more contested region as great power ambitions look to expand their sphere of influence into our region. Not all nations respect our democratic norms, and we need to keep our eyes wide open about great power ambition.

The ‘Blue Continent’ is a special place. It has hitherto not been conquered. It’s been too big and while there have been three failed attempts over the past 250 years, the Pacific still, however precariously for some, remains free for its diverse peoples.

How do we keep it that way?

When in government we answered that question through our ‘Pacific Reset.’ Underpinning the ‘Pacific Reset’ were five principles which we believed would strengthen cooperation with our Pacific family – understanding, friendship, mutual benefit, collective ambition and sustainability.

These principles guided our active diplomacy with our friends in the region, countries we saw and treated as equals. The reset’s principles serve, too, as a guide for our relations with all nations. Active diplomacy post-Covid is even more important that when we established the reset back in 2018.

But active diplomacy on its own cannot answer the questions posed in this Summit, because we know that Pacific challenges are multi-faceted, and they run deep.

So, we very consciously decided as a government that active diplomacy had to be supported by seriously ‘shifting the dial’ on the level of New Zealand’s overseas development assistance (ODA).

We were proud of lifting ODA, which was on track to a miserly 0.22 of Gross National Income when we came into government, the lowest in the OECD, up to .33 of GNI in 2020.

This represented, alongside ODA increases achieved during a previous term as Foreign Minister between 2005 and 2008, the highest level of ODA since the 1970s. It wasn’t shame that lead to our investment in overseas development assistance, although embarrassment wouldn’t have been misplaced for some of our predecessor governments.

It was, rather, our recognition and ambition to work with our Pacific neighbours to help build their resilience through government-to-government initiatives as well as through the important non-government sector.

That investment and commitment to work with other small democracies was underpinned by a shared awareness about the nature of security and other threats facing Pacific nations.

How else can we exhibit shared understanding with other, like-minded democracies? Well, we can share more information at multiple levels of engagement between us.

Intelligence sharing, for instance, helps us reach common understanding about the nature and intensity of security threats, present and future.

And on that score, we commend the recent decision by the New Zealand and Japanese governments to reach a new intelligence sharing protocol. More can be done in this space.

Track II diplomatic efforts are also crucial in connecting government and non-government sectors, sharing concerns and ideas to strengthen fraternal bonds between us, as is facilitating the people-to-people links between us.

When in government, we worked hard to foster relationships with those democratic states that sat somewhat aloof in our region and were pleased to see them re-engage with the Pacific.

Collaboration is key, especially amongst wealthier states. By example, we were proud in 2019 of the PNG electrification programme we established in concert with Australian, the United States and Japanese governments, lifting access to electricity to 70 percent of PNG households by 2030.

These collaborations between partners are essential because together we can pool resources for maximum gain in a fashion we cannot as individual nations, which means the scale of our shared ambition is greater too.

We also need to keep our own democratic houses in order. Protecting them against pernicious foreign interference efforts, fostering democratic participation in our respective countries, protecting freedom of expression and promoting a robust but independent media, are all things we must never take for granted.

Finally, we all need to have our eyes wide open to the challenges we face across our region. We need urgent and candid conversations about the nature of these threats. Then the commitment to act on our concerns. Now is especially not a time for drawing inward. It’s a time to focus outward -as one, and to speak with one voice.

Only through active engagement, and by investing where we can make the most difference to improving institutional architectures to achieve greater resilience, can we protect the precious values that the small democracies in our region share.

Building on established networks, forums, and relationships, while forging new ones, will help guide these efforts. This Summit is a serious opportunity to do that.

Thank you again.

All progress in your discussions.

For they are important.

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