Over the past five days, a group of Chinese warships has been travelling in the Tasman Sea and practicing live fire drills. The NZ Navy and Australian Navy have been deployed to keep watch on the ships’ movements and activities.

“Alarm over the deployment of Chinese warships is a deeply hypocritical reaction and represents a double-standard of impressive height. Moreover, the Prime Minister’s suggestion that weapons spending will go up is opportunistic and in the service of US imperial aims, not NZ security,” said Valerie Morse of Peace Action Wellington.

“The government is behaving hypocritically: US warships invade and occupy spaces across the globe, enforcing US power and dominance, including directly off the coast of China, something the US itself would never abide by on its own seaboard. Yet not only is there no criticism of the US, there is active participation by the NZDF in the US’s imperial war mongering in places like the Red Sea.”

“By the same token, New Zealand has previously hosted Chinese warships in the ports of Auckland and Wellington.”

“No one should be under an illusion any longer that the US represents a force for good in the world or the upholding of international law and norms. The US has declared war on international law and is using its military to enforce US supremacy with missiles. This actively undermines New Zealand security.”

“At the same time, the Chinese state is an authoritarian nightmare with an aggressive plan for military spending and zero regard for human rights. The experiences in Hong Kong and Xinjiang should be evidence for how much respect China has for basic rights and freedoms.”

“This is why the response of the New Zealand government should not be to play into the US’s anti-China rhetoric but instead should be a strong voice for peace, diplomacy and disarmament. It is critically important that New Zealand ends participation in dangerous and counterproductive
US military activities including active deployments in the Middle East, space launches, training and through the Five Eyes intelligence agencies. Now is the time for a foreign policy that actually puts people and planet first, not weapons companies and US capitalists.”

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