New Zealand is “pleased” to be one of the Indo-Pacific partners of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), its deputy prime minister has said, calling the grouping a new “arrangement with greater depth” that mirrors a stronger security alignment going beyond the region.

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was referring to NATO’s four Indo-Pacific partners, dubbed the IP4, that also include South Korea, Australia and Japan. The leaders of the four countries were invited to last week’s NATO summit in Washington.

At the NATO meeting, the IP4 adopted a joint statement condemning the deepening military ties between Russia and North Korea and agreed to step up cooperation.

The IP4 gathering has drawn keen attention after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell suggested institutionalizing the grouping to address shared concerns, with Washington saying it will push to hold a foreign ministers’ meeting among the IP4 countries later this year.

“It’s an emerging arrangement with greater
depth. That greater depth is accentuated by the level of interest and level of importance of the meetings we go into right now, including the last NATO meeting in the U.S.,” Peters said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Monday.

“We are pleased to be part of this arrangement,” Peters said.

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters speaks during an interview with Yonhap News Agency at the New Zealand Embassy in Seoul on July 15, 2024. (Yonhap)

Peters, who doubles as New Zealand’s foreign minister, was in Seoul for talks with top South Korean government officials, including National Security Adviser Chang Ho-jin and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.

Peters pointed out that NATO is starting to realize the challenges faced by the world today are not just about geography, but that “threats to one part of the world are threats to other parts of the world.”

“When the supply of cargo, safety to the Red Sea is threatened, we all pay a whole lot more. It affects everybody, to the
working man in the street,” he said.

In this vein, it has become important for his country to work with other countries to ensure that international law is maintained, Peters said.

“We’re only a small country, but with others, we can make a very, very strong reply to those who would challenge the rule of law,” he said.

Peters struck a cautious note on New Zealand’s potential participation in a part of the AUKUS security partnership comprising Australia, Britain and the United States, suggesting that the issue should be carefully examined from the viewpoint of the national interest.

“There are tons of study on enormous technological and new emerging information and ideas, but it’s not a military agreement … Our job is to think, let’s look seriously what we’re looking at. Can it be in our national interest? Can it be an interest?” Peters said.

South Korea is also among the countries being mentioned as a possible partner for the AUKUS Pillar 2, which calls for cooperation in high-tech areas like quantum c
omputing, artificial intelligence and hypersonics.

AUKUS is largely seen as a group of like-minded countries formed to counter China’s assertiveness.

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters speaks during an interview with Yonhap News Agency at the New Zealand Embassy in Seoul on July 15, 2024. (Yonhap)

On North Korea’s growing ties with Russia, Peters denounced Moscow for violating U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions despite being a UNSC member itself, and “being now dependent for their supply of basic military equipment from North Korea, and quid pro quo.”

“Some countries are enabling North Korea to gain products they should not be gaining through a backdoor. For our part, we should make it as difficult as anything for them to carry on the way they have,” Peters said.

“We are going to ensure that we play our role in a stepped up way, in terms of ensuring that, where possible, we maintain the sanctions against their supply and against their conduct,” he said.

In rega
rd to its diplomacy with China, Peters said New Zealand considers it to be important that the two sides treat one another as “equals.”

“We have things that we disagree on. We expect them to treat us as equals and with respect,” he said.

“Independent countries with independent foreign policy have a right to both agree and disagree … but we do not wish to remain silent when we think things are wrong.”

Source: Yonhap News Agency