Nanaia Mahuta says the big questions about regional security and what caused the controversial deal with a superpower won't be debated until next month's Pacific Islands Forum
It was news to the rest of the Pacific when the Solomon Islands signed a new security pact with China in April.
Despite Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta's virtual meeting with her Solomon Islands' counterpart Jeremiah Manele late last month, it is still unclear what prompted the deal as nobody has asked.
Mahuta told Newsroom on Wednesday that when the Government first heard a security arrangement had been agreed to, it immediately gave pause for thought.
“The natural question from across the Pacific in the first instance is, what is the implication of those arrangements on the region? But also, it urged a bigger conversation of Pacific nations, including New Zealand, to say do we need to discuss regional security as a matter of priority?’’
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), set to be held in Fiji in July, will be the first time Pacific leaders, including Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, discuss whether some in the region feel the current security arrangements don’t live up to expectations.
“It will be a forum to be able to identify what are these concerns? Is there something more we all need to pay attention to? Are there other ways of achieving a regional objective that can maintain regional cohesion but also support our vision for a stable, prosperous Pacific,’’ said Mahuta.
“What has been encouraging is that other Pacific nations have identified that matters of regional security should be discussed at a regional level, and many of us have identified the Pacific Islands’ Forum as the appropriate forum.’’
That will potentially make for a confronting meeting, but Mahuta said it’s not new for PIF to be a place to “discuss a range of difficult issues’’.
“There’s been no problem with people saying what they think and how they feel about topics of the day.’’
“New Zealand will never be able to compete with superpowers and the amount of investment they put into the Pacific.'' – Nanaia Mahuta
The increasing influence of China in the region, and a sweep of Pacific nations by the Chinese Foreign Minister in recent weeks has led to ramped up engagement and a commitment from the United States to return to the region.
Mahuta has maintained New Zealand doesn’t need to shift its approach because its relationship with Pacific neighbours has been enduring, and respectful, despite more than two years of Covid-19 restrictions preventing face-to-face meetings.
She’s called the speed visits by the Chinese government “unusual’’.
Mahuta says an assurance has been sought and given by Sogavare that the establishment of a new security arrangement won’t lead to the militarisation of Honiara, or the Solomons.
“We take his undertakings at his word, and we’ve evaluated the conversation to a regional level and said if there’s concerns, we should be discussing this at PIF and we should be able to identify both from a country perspective, but from a regional perspective, how we support each other in the concerns that we may have and what a way forward could look like for the region,’’ she said.
Pacific nations have for many years benefited from Chinese investment, particularly infrastructure, and Mahuta says New Zealand and Australia can’t do much about that.
“New Zealand will never be able to compete with superpowers and the amount of investment they put into the Pacific," she says.
"But, the way that we provide support can enable the Pacific to achieve its outcomes without creating greater indebtedness.
“Much of our development, support and assistance is by way of grant and that has been appreciated."
Mahuta says New Zealand is in a similar position to other Pacific nations when it comes to the region being contested and maintaining a relationship with both China and the United States.
“You’ve got the Pacific as a contested space, superpowers are signalling a greater interest in the region, and Pacific nations are trying to navigate their way through some very complicated challenges - climate change and economic resilience - but also with this kind of renewed, rein vigoured interest, from these superpowers.”
Mahuta told Newsroom the real challenge will not necessarily be the superpowers in and of themselves, but how genuine their commitment and support is to the Pacific and its “substantial challenges’’.
