Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters. Photo: Phil Smith
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has affirmed New Zealand's commitment to defend and modernise multilateralism, in a speech to diplomats.
The speech laid out the new government's approach to foreign policy at Parliament on Monday evening, thanking New Zealand's Diplomatic Corps for the role they played in New Zealand and overseas.
In it, Peters said the new coalition government appreciated their commitment - particularly for small and developing countries and particularly in the Pacific region - but they held no illusions about the current "challenging international conditions".
He said the international environment was "clouded by heightened strategic tension and heightened levels of disruption and risk," pointing to the situation in Gaza and "the illegal, unjustified invasions and ongoing aggression we are witnessing around the globe".
Peters said that in such complex and challenging time, the government more than ever recognised the need to collaborate, and would be putting more energy and urgency into its global relationships, prosperity and security.
"Small states tend to be judged by the strength, or even temperature, of their major power relationships," he said. "But that is not how we see these relationships. We judge our relationships with the United States, or the European Union, or China, or India and Japan, or with South America, for example, by what we can achieve together."
He said New Zealand was committed to strengthening the Indo-Pacific region's architecture of rules and norms, "both to maximise opportunities and to manage risks".
"New Zealand would rather invest in strengthening the institutions which help to manage conflict, than face false choices between bilateral relationships.
"You should expect to see New Zealand continue to strengthen its Pacific partnerships, by listening, and by working with Pacific countries to bolster their security and resilience, particularly in terms of climate impacts."
The country would also "vigorously refresh" engagement with Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as increasing focus on Asia - including India and Southeast Asia.
"And we will continue to support and defend an international rules-based system that reflects our values and supports our interests. We will also target multilateral engagement on key global and transboundary issues, and pursue opportunities presented by new, emerging 'minilateral' groupings."
He also spoke about the need to continue removing trade barriers at a time when countries were tending more towards caution, and highlighted a proactive approach to national security.
"New Zealand's approach to national security will be deliberate, focused on being positioned to act early and prevent threats and challenges, wherever possible. And focused on building resilience and readiness when prevention is not possible."
This would include reinvigorating defence engagement with the United States and other Five Eyes partners, "as well as with other key security partners in the region and beyond".
"In our complex world, the space has shrunk between global events and their consequences for any individual nation's prosperity and security. There is no 'opt out' from the strategic trends we all face, regionally or globally," he said.
Those partnering with New Zealand would find a principled and engaged country that was determined to act with urgency to work alongside others to strengthen global and regional cooperation, he said.