Crucial Five Eyes alliance must not become 4½ Eyes

The English language version of Global Times, the raucous mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, has been eager to praise New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta for wanting Wellington “to chart its own course in developing relations with China”. It lauded her for refusing “to allow the US-led Five Eyes alliance dictate its foreign policies”. The Chinese newspaper was blatant about the pay-off: “Maintaining a healthy co-operative relationship with China, which has a massive market and is on a rapid economic recovery path, will yield concrete benefits to New Zealand … in sharp contrast with Australia which tied itself to the US’s chariot”.

The Global Times report appeared as New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tried to have a bob each way ahead of Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Pacific Minister Zed Seselja arriving in Wellington on Wednesday for three days of talks. Ms Ardern did not contradict Ms Mahuta’s view that New Zealand was uncomfortable with “expanding the remit of the Five Eyes relationship”. But Ms Ardern diplomatically tried to calm the unease of fellow Five Eyes intelligence alliance members Australia, the US, Britain and Canada on Tuesday.

“We should be banding together where we see issues globally that don’t align with our shared values,” the New Zealand Prime Minister said. “The point our Foreign Minister has rightly raised is, is this best done under the banner of a grouping of countries around a security intelligence platform? Or is it best done under the banner of a group of countries with shared values, some of which may not belong to the Five Eyes partnership? We should be collectively raising issues, be it Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, or the US … those collective voices are important. But let’s just make sure we do it with the appropriate platform.”

Ms Mahuta also tried to smooth tensions with other Five Eyes members. New Zealand was a real beneficiary of the alliance and would continue to actively engage, she said. Five Eyes “provides a framework to co-operate across intelligence, police, border security, defence, cyber and other security-related portfolios”, she added.

New Zealand’s efforts to paper over the minister’s blatant attempt to curry favour with China would be more convincing if not for New Zealand Trade Minister Damien O’Connor’s claim less than three months ago that Australia “should follow us and show respect” to improve its relationship with President Xi Jinping’s government. That tactless blunder also was widely reported in China’s state-­controlled media, which called on Australia to “heed the constructive voices from people with vision”.

Mr O’Connor’s comment, which he later retracted, angered many in politics and business in Australia in light of China’s broad campaign of trade retaliation involving $20bn worth of our exports, including coal, wine, barley, timber and lobster. The refusal of Chinese officials to speak to their ministerial counterparts in Australia shows China has little if any interest in healing the breach.

Three weeks ago, New Zealand was the only Five Eyes member not to join a statement of 14 nations, including Japan and South Korea, that criticised the World Health Organisation investigation into the origins of COVID-19 in China. At a time of increasing strategic tensions as China asserts its influence in the South China Sea and across the Pacific, strong alliances, such as the Five Eyes intelligence network, have never been more important, including to medium powers such as Australia and our small close ally, New Zealand. Playing up differences of opinion between alliance members suits only one nation — China.