New Zealand has started to grow sour on joining its Five Eyes allies — the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia — in criticizing communist China as it seeks to develop a closer relationship with China, its largest trading partner.
Five Eyes, an intelligence alliance comprised of the aforementioned five nations, emerged from spying alliances that were forged during World War II. The alliance has sought to expand its coordination to combat the rising threat and horrifying human rights abuses being committed by China, which New Zealand is not comfortable with.
“New Zealand’s foreign minister said she would not allow the intelligence alliance to dictate the country’s dealings with China, putting it at odds with the other members” of the group, The Telegraph reported. “New Zealand’s attempts to now distance itself from the Five Eyes alliance will inevitably open up [Prime Minister Jacinda] Ardern to allegations that her administration is ignoring abuses in Hong Kong and against Uyghur Muslims in order to preserve and grow its trading relationship with China.”
New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said that the island nation, which sits approximately 1,000 miles southeast of Australia, was uncomfortable expanding the scope of Five Eyes to combat the rise and threat of communist China.
“We have raised with Five Eyes partners that we are uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the Five Eyes relationship,” Mahuta said. “We would much rather prefer looking for multilateral opportunities to express our interests on a number of issues.”
“New Zealand has been very clear not to invoke the Five Eyes as the first point of contact on messaging out on a range of issues that really exist outside of the remit of the Five Eyes,” Mahuta said. “We have not favored that type of approach and have expressed that to Five Eyes partners. What we would prefer is looking for other supports in the region that may or may not be those countries.”
Bloomberg News reported that New Zealand didn’t join a statement from the other Five Eyes members earlier this year about China’s crackdown in Hong Kong. While New Zealand sought to stress that this was not “a fracturing of the relationship,” political commentators in Australia and elsewhere expressed concern over the latest development.
Sky News host James Morrow commented on the story by calling New Zealand “New Xi-land,” while Sky News commentator Rita Panahi said that the organization should be restructured into “Four Eyes alliance” because “NZ is a liability.”
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