By Lucy Craymer
(Reuters) – New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Thursday that his country needed to stand up for the international rules-based order as potential military flashpoints loom in the Indo-Pacific region.
“We need to stand up for this international rules based system that has actually served New Zealand incredibly well… When it is under threat, and you’ve actually got to call it out, and you’ve got to stand up and make your contribution,” Luxon told media after two days of meetings at the NATO summit in Washington.
While not a member of the NATO alliance, New Zealand is part of a group of countries referred to as the Indo-Pacific Four(IP-4), which also includes Japan, South Korea and Australia.
The IP-4 held sessions with NATO and EU leaders, while Luxon had bilateral meetings with a number of leaders including from Canada, France and Spain.
Luxon said in a statement after he chaired the IP-4 meeting that it made sense for four of the most advanced democracies in the region to work together to support international stability.
New Zealand is “making sure that we are going to be a trusted good partner to them to our friends and allies,” Luxon later told reporters.
New Zealand on Friday announced it would extend its contribution to the U.S.-led coalitions operating in the Red Sea.
Luxon also warned a situation like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had the potential to occur in East Asia.
“When you think about the situations we have with North Korea firing missiles over Korean and Japanese airspace, when you think about the challenges in the Second Thomas Shoal reef with respect to the Philippines, and the behavior that we saw from China there, when you think about Taiwan, you know, we have potential flashpoints in our region,” Luxon said.
New Zealand this week announced a further NZ$16 million ($9.74 million) in support for Ukraine and further sanctions against seven individuals and 12 entities providing military assistance to Russia.
($1 = 1.6434 New Zealand dollars)
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer in Wellington; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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