New Zealand is "seriously concerned” about China’s increased interest in the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.
"China has a long-standing presence in the Pacific, but we are seriously concerned by increased engagement in Pacific security sectors,” Peters said in a speech to the New Zealand China Council Friday in Wellington. "We do not want to see developments that destabilize the institutions and arrangements that have long underpinned our region’s security.”
New Zealand’s new center-right government, which took office late last year, is seeking to deepen its ties with like-minded western nations such as Australia, the U.S. and U.K. amid concerns about Beijing’s growing ambitions in the Pacific.