New Zealand’s balance between securing its periphery and maintaining trade ties with China could shift toward the former over the next year as domestic defense pressure and Beijing’s military activities in the Pacific both accelerate. The New Zealand Defense Force published its Defence Assessment 2021 on Dec. 8, the first such report since 2016, in which the military called for shifting away from a “reactive risk management” approach to a proactive strategy that helps “pre-empt and prevent security threats.” This is notable because the country has long attempted to deftly balance its deep economic ties with China against its regional security concerns, which has often caused New Zealand to distance itself from the United States and Australia’s more proactive efforts to address China’s military advancement. ...
