With aging equipment and difficulties recruiting personnel, New Zealand’s military needs a revamp, the government said yesterday.
The South Pacific nation’s roughly 15,000-strong defense force “is not in a fit state to respond to future challenges,” a policy review presented by New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Minister for Defence Andrew Little said.
New Zealand’s military is designed for a “relatively benign strategic environment” rather than the region’s current predicaments, including climate-fueled challenges and intense strategic competition between China and the West, the review said.
New Zealand needs to invest in a “combat-capable” force and cannot count on being protected by its remoteness, Little said.
“The changes in the domestic and international security environment mean our response and preparedness must change too,” Little told reporters. “We must be prepared to equip ourselves with trained personnel, assets and material, and appropriate international relationships in order to protect our own defense and national security.”
The military revamp announcement comes during intensifying talks over New Zealand’s possible role in the AUKUS alliance, a pact between Australia, the UK and the US aimed at countering China’s rise in the Pacific.
New Zealand has been treading carefully around involvement in the deal, hoping to avoid angering its largest trading partner, Beijing.
However, late last month, Hipkins said that New Zealand was “open to conversations” about a possible role in parts of the pact.
This would mean working with the other partners on defense technologies such as cyber, artificial intelligence and hypersonic weapons — the agreement’s so-called “pillar two.”
In addition to its own defense, New Zealand is responsible for the defense of Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, all small Pacific nations, but its only formal ally is its much larger neighbor, Australia.
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