Don’t force Pacific to pick sides, says Jacinda Ardern

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern says Pacific Island nations should not be forced to ‘pick sides’ amid growing strategic competition in the region.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addresses the Lowy Institute on Thursday. Picture: AAP

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Pacific Island nations should not be forced to “pick sides” amid growing strategic competition in the region, describing China’s involvement in the Indo-Pacific as “not new”.

Ahead of meeting Anthony Albanese in Sydney, Ms Ardern used a speech to the Lowy Institute to say Pacific Island countries were “democratic nations with their own sovereign right to determine their foreign policy engagements”.

“France, Japan, the UK, US and China have all played a role in the Pacific for many, many years,” Ms Ardern said.

“It would be wrong to characterise this engagement, including that of China, as new.

“It would also be wrong to position the Pacific in such a way that they have to pick sides.”

Ms Ardern said any issues of militarisation in the region should be addressed at the Pacific Island Forum in Fiji next week, with the Prime Minister expected to use the forum as a charm offensive to limit the influence of China on Australia’s near neighbours.

"Ultimately, though, rather than increased strategic competition in the region, we need instead to look for areas to build and co-operate, recognising the sovereignty and independence of those for whom the region is home,” Ms Ardern said.

She said it would be a mistake to link Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to a broader issue of “democracy versus autocracy”, in a direct repudiation of former prime minister Scott Morrison’s claim that China and Russia were part of an “arc of autocracy” that was threatening the global world order.

“We must remember that fundamentally, this is Russia’s war,” Ms Ardern said.

“And while there are those who have shown overt and direct support, such as Belarus, who must also see consequences for their role, we must not otherwise characterise this as a war of the West versus Russia or democracy versus autocracy. It is not.

“Nor should we naturally assume it is a demonstration of the inevitable trajectory in other areas of geo-strategic contest.

“In the wake of the tensions we see rising, including in our Indo-Pacific region, diplomacy must become the strongest tool and de-escalation the loudest call.

“We won’t succeed, however, if those parties we seek to engage with are increasingly isolated and the region we inhabit becomes increasingly divided and polarised.”

Ms Ardern said the UN needed to be reformed after its failure to act on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Multilateral institutions are imperfect, and they have failed, and will fail, us,” she said.

“When they do fail, our first port of call must always be to find ways to make them stronger.

“In recent times, there has been no better example of that than the failure of the UN to appropriately respond to the war in Ukraine because of the position taken by Russia in the Security Council.

“Under these circumstances, waiting for our multilateral institutions to act was not an option for New Zealand.

“Here, when the system fails, we seek partnerships and approaches based on the second principle of our independent foreign policy: our values.”