As Asian interest in the Pacific ramps up, Nanaia Mahuta says a South Korea summit is a chance for New Zealand to reiterate the importance of the Pacific voice in geopolitical discussions
The aspirations of Pacific nations should not be seen as a mere “appendage” to broader discussions about geopolitical developments in the Indo-Pacific region, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has said ahead of a diplomatic trip to South Korea.
Mahuta is in Seoul for the inaugural Korea-Pacific Leaders’ Summit, with South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol and prime minister Han Duck-soo hosting representatives from the 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum.
The summit follows on the heels of a meeting between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Pacific leaders in Papua New Guinea, which also played host to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after US President Joe Biden cancelled a scheduled visit.
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Speaking ahead of her trip to Seoul, Mahuta said there was “a growing recognition and, I think, interest of countries outside of the region with understanding what the Pacific sentiment is and how to engage with them”.
She did not believe the growing number of summits led by non-Pacific nations would undermine the role of the forum, saying countries recognised the importance of supporting rather than undermining the “regional architecture”.
“It's important that we continue to build regional architecture like we do with the Asean, so we support the centrality of Asean infrastructure, regional architecture, the same as the case of the Pacific.
“The next conversation then will be how do you bring the Asean [nations] and the Pacific together so that when there's a broader conversation around Indo-Pacific, the Pacific aspiration is not an appendage … to what has been recently the focus, which is an Asean-led view of Indo-Pacific relations.”
As part of the summit, Mahuta will deliver a national statement on preserving maritime zones in the face of sea level rise.
Former prime minister Jacinda Ardern was involved in advocating for action on the issue during her time in office, telling Newsroom in 2019 that ministers and officials had raised the matter both formally and informally at the United Nations.
“This isn't just a Western thing, this perhaps is about ensuring greater stability of democracies, in many ways. So I think that's where there's a common thread that links NZ naturally to other nation states like Korea, where we want to defend our democratic values and principles.” – Nanaia Mahuta, Foreign Affairs Minister
In an open letter ahead of the Korea summit, a group of Pacific civil society organisations also urged their leaders to ask for an end to South Korean support for fossil fuel projects in Australia.
Citing a report that showed the South Korean government was spending roughly AU$3.6 billion on upstream gas projects in Australia, the group said such initiatives could not go ahead if the world was to “avoid catastrophic climate change”.
While climate change is expected to be a key issue at the summit, broader security and defence concerns are likely to be discussed, with South Korea and the US holding large live-fire drills last week to simulate a potential attack from North Korea.
Mahuta said South Korea was “very mindful” of the local threat to its north, but recent increases in the country’s defence spending also reflected concerns about the wider region.
“This isn't just a Western thing, this perhaps is about ensuring greater stability of democracies, in many ways. So I think that's where there's a common thread that links New Zealand naturally to other nation states like Korea, where we want to defend our democratic values and principles.”
Mahuta will also visit Kiwi soldiers serving in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea.
