NZ not sure whether they are pro USA or pro China???

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12177754

(from http://politik.co.nz/en/content/foreignaffairs/1490/Peters-leaves-PM-out-of-China-speech-preparation-Winston-peters-Georgetown-University-Jacinda-Ardern-China.htm)

The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, confirmed yesterday that she did not see Winston Peters’ major speech on NZ-US relations before he delivered it in Washington, DC, on Saturday.

The speech has raised questions about whether New Zealand is moving its foreign policy closer to the Trump administration and away from the independent stance it has pursued since the ANZUS breakdown in 1985.

It has surprised observers in Wellington that such a major speech could be delivered without at least the Prime Minister’s prior approval and probably that of the Cabinet as a whole as well.

And it has left unanswered, questions as to where New Zealand sits between the United States and China.

Peters appeared to continue the line of thinking about foreign policy evident in the Defence Policy Statement issued in March which highlighted increased tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

On Saturday he said that while New Zealand and the United States worked together on a range of global issues, “our cooperation and like-mindedness is now coming into sharper relief in the Asia Pacific where the region is becoming more contested, and its security is ever more fragile.”

“It is New Zealand’s view that the Asia-Pacific region has reached an inflexion point, one that requires the urgent attention of both Wellington and Washington,” he said.

And that is why we are here.”

That sounded like an overture to the United States to become more involved in the region which by itself is not that extraordinary; New Zealand has been arguing for a while that more states should become involved with the Pacific.

But China experts, spoken to by POLITIK, say that by casting the invitation within the framework of the growing big power rivalry between China and the US, Peters appears to have leaned towards the United States.

The 2016 National Government Defence White Paper saw developments in the Asia-Pacific region in a subtly different way.

“New Zealand continues to benefit from the economic opportunities associated with Asia’s growth, and has a critical interest in the maintenance of regional security as well as growing and expanding its relationships in the region,” it said.

But since then both the United States and Australia have ramped up their rhetoric against China.

And increasingly New Zealand appears to be being lumped in by the Chinese media with Australia and the US as has been evident in coverage in publications like the state newspaper “Global Times”.

That has reported on New Zealand’s ban on Huawei supplying equipment for Spark’s 5G network.

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