Ummmmmm – that escalated quickly…
Jacinda Ardern makes nuclear plea to Nato, issues warning about China’s assertiveness
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ended her visit to the Nato summit in Madrid warning that the unstable international environment was not limited to Europe – she called out China for its recent challenging of international norms and Russia for its information warfare in the Pacific.
“The shift in environment we are currently seeing is not limited to one region.
“In our neighbourhood, we see the mounting pressure on the international rules-based order. We see attempts to disrupt and destabilise – even New Zealand is targeted by Russian mis- and dis-information,” Ardern said.
She added that “China has in recent times also become more assertive and more willing to challenge international rules and norms”.
…don’t get me wrong, I agree with every word from the PM, but this is the most aggressive posturing against China that we’ve ever publicly annunciated and doing it at NATO will have enraged the Chinese.
We are over in Europe desperately making the case that if NZ is to decouple from China economically, we will need access to Western markets because currently China has total dominance over our trade.
In our desperation to make that point, we are calling China out internationally and my guess is that there will be a price to pay for that.
We are on the verge of a steep economic recession, watch for China to pounce at our weakest to slash trade and push that economic recession into a depression.
We are part of the great game now.
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I think we went all in against imperial Japan in WW2, so what did you expect?
Japan did great work against the yanks. Good on them.
Yes John, that unconditional surrender really showed the yanks.
Feel the same way about the Rape of Nanjing?
No, I feel the same way about the victims in Nanking as I do about the tens of millions of victims of American aggression. And as an actually moral person, I’m also well aware that your American buddies directly recruited the same Japanese war criminals responsible for such crimes when they were setting up their occupational governments in Southern Korea and Taiwan province.
Regardless of China, or sucking up to US Imperialism via NATO, this country needs a strategic shift from industrial level dairying to more self sufficiency–diversification of farming, restoring manufacturing capacity, a basic pharmaceutical capacity, retiring Rogernomics and the monetarist state in favour of public ownership and control of the people’s assets.
The only positive from the PMs utterances for me was her comment on non proliferation of Nukes.
Agree Tiger Mountain on the industrial dairying. That’s not an anti farmer stance, it’s just a fact. The Canterbury plains are absolutely f*cked because there is simply not enough water to break down the by products of this approach. Everyone talks about the top line export number without calculating the true cost. Surely agriculture does not need to be milk powder and nothing else. They should be helping dairy farmers transition to other land uses.
Yep, it is significantly about the input of nitrogen and other substances and the resulting output via animal excretion and run off into waterways. And raiding aquifers!
I know a guy in Northland who had a five truck “Fert” operation for many years, it turned over $5mill pa (not profit) and kept the family going well. But his son who has taken over the business has admitted to me that Balance and other companies are now offering lower nitrogen alternative products.
These people remain in denial when it comes to environmental concerns.
Agree
Fantail – on this dumb website you never know how far down the track your comment will appear. So you have to state the name of the person you are agreeing with.
I don’t think anybody knows who you are agreeing with at this point.
I have just tried to make the same point to that tedheath guy.
Comparative advantage – we have one, dairy. We won’t and can’t win in manufacturing
The question does need to be asked ..Why should China continue to trade with a pipsqueak who has just declared China to be an enemy.Of course they will respond , and we will be the poorer for it.
Ever heard the saying “Nato exists to manage the risks created by its existence “, and here we are ,deepening the ties Key got us into in the first place.Perhaps we are now in a more unstable environment because the US is losing its hegemony and is desperately clinging on while dragging everyone else down with it.
I am really interested in what these common values we share with the likes of Aus with its treatment of aboriginals, 501s, and refugees,US with its terrible human rights record, wars,kill lists, attacks on journalism re Assange,UK ..Chagos islanders , Rwanda, Israel say no more.
Tonight Francesca’s rabid and biased anti-West diabdrib was bought to you by Russia & China – Where everyone gets a concentration camp.
Jacinda shares a hell of a lot of values with Australia and America. I was amused to read today that the Morrison regime in Aus spent more than 6 million AUD prosecuting whistleblowers who exposed Australian crimes like spying on the East Timorese government to rip off their oil and gas reserves (a crime the Clark government assisted in), or Australian war crimes in Afghanistan (which again, we helped them in).
Of course, Albanese won’t be dropping any of those charges, and Ardern, she of the ‘most transparent government in history’ certainly won’t be bringing them up with him.
Give it a rest love. We had a chance to bring China into the south pacific security arrangement when we signed
Signed the China FTA, 20 years on we’ve royally fucked ourselves.
Yes and those damn Uyghurs just had it coming with their religion and whatnot…
We need Nukes and we need them now!!!!
The EU, USA and UK are all bullies and in my view their trade practices wreak of protect my patch by all means. The above countries talk a lot about working together, sustainability, diversifying etc but talk is cheap when it is not matched by ones actions. Our PM literally had to go over there and kiss some arse sad but true.
The pandemic has shown us we need to restore some of manufacturing and pharmaceutical capabilities and the sooner the better.
“even New Zealand is targeted by Russian mis- and dis-information”
Odd. One would have thought this stupid American prostitute could name even one example of this, but of course not…
Calling a woman a prostitute because she has a different opinion than you and saying saying above you supported Japans actions in WW2.
What a class act you are, you must have lots and lots of friends.
One week Arden’s a puppet of china who won’t condemn china along with our traditional allies and is selling NZ’s soul for milk powder, and how dare this Chinese puppet not intervene in an extradition to China.
The next week she’s a “prostitute of America” and a western puppet “kissing Europe and America’s arse” for criticizing China and for criticizing nuclear weapons
She’s destroying our relationship with china by banning foreign ownership of homes. She’s destroying our relationship with the west by not cutting all ties with China. Lmao
Ay it’s hard to keep up, what will she be next week a puppet of martian invaders or a lizard person lmao.
You guys are sad angry people.
Corey, “John White” appears to be a Chinese bot account sowing hatred. I think the surname is a clue.
I’ve confronted him/it over false accusations and given him/it a chance to withdraw but get complete silence. If it’s a real account the person has no credibility and probably should be on a watchlist with the hate they spout.
Yeah had been wondering if ‘John White’ was Chinese – his / her anti-US rhetoric is so overboard it is North Koreanesque . .
James – I am inclined to be cynical about everyone, including the USA.
But I am also inclined to agree that rhetoric has been going crazier lately.
Are they robots, or are there more young people angry at their disillusionment?
Not good either way.
Misogyny is alive and well in NZ and around the world.
We have the far right wanting to take over woman’s wombs with abortion in the US and the woke wanting to take over woman’s wombs and language with transgender in NZ.
Pretty sure, a lot of this misogyny is well funded by misogynist billionaires – both Western, Asian, Middle Eastern and Russian.
Big social media campaign to subjugate woman and post it over social media!
@Corey watch out for John White’s screen play (co)V-19 where Morena Baccarin reprises her role as role as alien queen “Ardernna”. A straight to cut-price DVD feature.
100%
Nonsense. When have I ever opposed destroying relationships with the American empire, which murdered more than a million human beings in Iraq alone? I would cheer Jacinda if she did that.
and your thoughts on the genocide of the Uyghurs population are…
Why would I have an opinion on your wet dreams?
She might have been talking about you John
Ardern repeated the utterly false claim that Wellington protesters threw human excrement at the New Zealand Police. She has never apologised for this gross and inexcusable lie which brought New Zealanders into international disrepute.
I am not aware of any misinformation coming from Russia, but Ardern herself has been responsible for a vast amount of misinformation in this country.
You dispute Arderns version of events, do you have proof of this?
At least the truth is being spoken.
The new free trade agreement with the EU is a step in a better direction due to them being democratic governments and have higher standards of living and social welfare systems, that NZ can try to emulate.
Sadly NZ has fallen down the ladder into a low, wage, economy with illiterate, homeless, population growing. Who cares about education in NZ? You don’t need an education to push a button in retail and fast food, and pick fruit for our overloads who don’t live here. (sarcasm)
NZ immigration policy is to import in 1 doctor per 50,000 other low waged people who need a doctor, and call it a win but they still need 3 task forces, to wonder why our hospital waiting list is growing! They just can’t work it out!
The Communists, with there free and open markets.
And protectionism in the West. Its crazy times.
The trade war and propaganda war has already started.
Yes I know 🙂 , the Chinese went with capitalism.
That cat catches more mice.
Yes I know 🙂 , the Chinese went with capitalism.
That cat catches more mice.
The comments of Tiger Mountain and Francesca are spot on.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with neocons such as Biden, Stoltenberg et al is cringeworthy and wrongheaded.
At least we won’t have to import all that Warehouse crap from China, that ends up in landfill after a week….instead we can make our own higher quality stuff and create some local jobs. Will just mean paying the peeps at Head Office the min wage instead of the over inflated pay they are currently on.
I’ve yet to read a coherent rational argument that convinces me or even makes me suspect that China is credible security threat to any sovereign nation, with the sole exception of the disputed territory of Taiwan.
+1.
We’re living through an era of violent control-clutching white fright as english speaking eliteists and their cronies adjust to the end of the US-fixed empire.
The problem is, the only things they control are us, “the civilised West” and we are the ones feeling all the pain.
You have to define “security threat”. Given they manufacture a lot of the things we need (for security) as well as general consumption items, and threaten to withhold that, then it technically can pose a “threat” given that societal collapse would be a disaster.
And if they do go to war with Taiwan, that is definitely going to be a global security threat given that all the world’s most advanced processors/CPUs/GPUs etc are manufactured by TSCM (including most mobile phone SoCs, military guidance, as well as general computing components which are required for modern manufacturing systems).
Totally agree!! China does not have a history of imperialistic aggression towards other countries- as opposed to the US, the greatest imperialist country in at least the last century. The US is effectively bankrupt and relies on the petro-dollar and, being the reserve currency for trade (equivalent to the old ‘Gold standard) to maintain their status and standard of living-a significant advantage over other countries. China is now the engine room for world consumer production and along with Russia, want to end the $US situation (and have been planning this for some time – remember BRICS). The US on the other hand, is preparing for the day they default on their debt to China, hence the current rallying of supporters and propaganda. The Chinese are using the Covid elimination strategy to strangle western economies with supply problems, causing inflation. The war in Ukraine will also cause significant wheat shortages and this coming norther winter, expect Europe to suffer gas shortages. Both China and Russia can do major damage to Western countries unless we start producing locally again and finally get rid of neoliberalism which was only ever about enriching the establishment- get rid of unions to drive down wages (and give maximum power to employers and causes employees to seek work in better paying countries) then use immigration to fill the void of the low paying (and poor conditions) jobs. Oh, and set up production in third world countries and above all-avoid tax!!
Does anyone else smell a rat??
One day, Ardern was all independent foreign policy, only pacific interests – we go our own way etc. And then there was a sudden pivot. Yes it happenned about the time of the Chinese lightning contract tour of the South Pacific but the dates dont completely correlate. (More akin to her US visit)
Suddenly JA abandons her previous position and is singing from the West’s songsheet in droves. Its a 180 degree pivot and akin to a puppet show. I dont think its all golly gee, China is actually a threat and no-one told me before now.
She has either found something out or been given her marching orders. I think that this is about her future career prospects and nothing in particular to do with NZ security. We are even getting the story put out there that the Russians were behind the parliament protests – does anyone believe that???? Sounds like – Standard Western propaganda to me.
Dont get me wrong, for structural reasons alone, China has been and will probably always be a threat so we have to go with the best bully in the room. But Ardern’s pivot? I’m not buying it.
At Fantail, you make a good point I’m sure career prospects and ensuring a place with the big-boys-and-girls are a part of it. The 2023 elections are getting close.
The “threat” of China has been long known, but it seems like western governments (and corporations) have only just decided a change of policy. Xi and the CCP have not changed direction in the last couple of years. If I was cynical I’d observe that dramatic wage increases mean China is no longer a source of cheap low value added labour. Added to that, rolling lockdowns are crippling supply chains. The Bretton-Woods model is also on it’s last legs economically after decades of falling political support. The geopolitical reshuffle towards whatever post-Bretton-Wood will be is gathering speed.
The pivot-whiplash is impressive. Until about a year ago Australia was alone in the Anglosphere making waves about China. The pivot came shortly after John Cena’s grovelling apology on Weibo for calling Taiwan a “country” (May ’21). I’m not suggesting the two are related but the apology is a benchmark of how deferential the culture was at the time despite years of Wolf Warrior diplomacy. Suddenly the US pivoted and now everyone else has fallen in line.
I’d say 5 eyes have a whole lot more information on what the CCP is planning than we the public are fed and it’s triggered some reality checks.
Certainly looks that way.
It’s time to drop the no nukes virtue signal, allow nuclear ships here, spend up on missiles and anti ship and aircraft tech, enter a formal ANZUS alliance and do whatever asked of us to shelter under America’s nuclear umbrella.
I think there is a lot of naivety in NZ over what lies ahead.
The PM has always been more traditional in where New Zealand stands than many here have thought. Yes, she is a progressive liberal, but she is so within the broad spectrum of the paradigm of the West. In short the PM has never espoused that New Zealand should not be of the West, rather she is a progressive within it.
A bit like the PM’s of both Sweden and Finland. They are both of the left, but they both taken their countries into NATO. With the broad support of the people.
It is the same here. Most people support New Zealand’s assistance to Ukraine.
I would also note that New Zealand’s 20 year mission to Afghanistan was also done through NATO. So the close connection to NATO goes back decades, through both Labour and National led governments.
One has to only read the tea leaves to get a slight sense of all the shenanigans and Bovine byproducts we are being fed.
Queen Jacinda is now officially in the loop, Stuff and Newshub are now joined in marriage to control the narrative. Wall street has had its biggest daily drop in 52 years and our masters have lost 1.75 Trillion in the first 6 months of this year.
Global food shortages, collapsing supply chains, unrest in Europe and the rest of the world, rampant inflation etc, etc, etc.
WW3 has already started, the only thing remaining is for all the players to set up their chess pieces and then well, game over.
History tells us the same lesson again and again.
China has distinguished us as being somewhat smarter than Australia and it’s war mongering Peter Dutton. We have known which side our bread is buttered.
For NZ it’s the dead rat we swallow and the price we pay for being so reliant on China.
Make no mistakes China will punish us for these comments.
We need to disengage and diversify fast.
One the one hand people China allows free trade but on the other hand their sensitivity to criticism (domestic or international) is legendary. It’s a bit like their loans, rather than foreign aid, programme – being willing to lend, but claiming a pound of flesh for unpaid debt. We warn the Pacific about the latter while at risk of trade reprisals.
Our FTA will limit impact, as will the realism China learnt when they went back to Oz coal. The Chines trade with us because they want minerals/timber/food – not as altrusim. Despite that diversification has always been our policy and leveraging the current geo-political crisis to get a FTA with the EU (and earlier the UK) makes sense.
Hopefully the PM is working with the UK to get Biden to sort out judicial appointments at the WTO (the UK now outside the EU has every reason to want the WTO to recover from Trump’s attempt to destroy the organisation).
Well the trade deal she signed is a start but it is insufficient to take this hard line against the Chinese and we will suffer for it.
fuck china, and fuck chinese internet trolls
Yup literally how many of those commenting on this are Chinese and of those are they even here in NZ . . if you are Kiwi (and yes that includes Chinese New Zealanders) please feel free to voice your opinion but if you aren’t Kiwi maybe post your comments on one of your own blogs (ILoveConcentrationCamps.com)?
Lol cry more yank. You rats will be gone soon.
‘You rats will be gone soon’ . . Is that you Kim Jong-un?
Are you commenting from a bunker somewhere wearing your stupid Mao suit?
In an otherwise helpful dialogue it’s still amazing how many so quickly turn to their “foreign ogre” default position, just as the MSM intended them to, when neither China or Russia has a history of international piracy anywhere near as foul as that of the great power we’re sucking up to. Fair-weather Christians indeed.
An atoll is an island that moves China’s territory? All the sea behind a certain is under China domestic water rules? Gives loans, not foreign aid to create the one belt and road?
You also may not have noticed that Putin and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch operate like co-rulers of Russia as in the days of the Tsar. And his night wolves biker gang operate Orthodox Christian gang subsidiaries in the Balkans.
The attack on Ukraine is to either depose its government (failed) or to create a nova Russia (Duginite) all the way to Moldova to seize a piece of that nations territory (also likely fail). So it will be all the Donbas annexation and an effort to maintain a link between Crimea and the Donbas. This will be a struggle – they may retain Mariupol but still fail.
You should get together with ‘John White’ Malcolm – you two would get on like a White House on fire.
You have to love the hypocrisy of the right… ” she must hold China to account, but she won’t because she’s weak” and then ” why did she say that for, China are our friends “
You have to love the hypocrisy of the right… ” she must hold China to account, but she won’t because she’s weak” and then ” why did she say that for, China are our friends “
Lovely smile and photo op Jacinda on signing a crap trade deal with UK. 10,000 tons of beef and lamb, China could take that daily, and we buddy up to NATO who defecate all over us in trade.
do you not think that is a good reason to diversify our trading partners?
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