Leaders of Australia and New Zealand agreed on Wednesday on closer defence ties as the latter considers sharing advanced military technology with the United States and Britain via the AUKUS partnership, ABC News reported.
Australia has become New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s first country of overseas visits since forming a coalition government in October. Luxon stated that he had agreed with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Sydney to have defence and foreign ministers meet in early 2024 to make sure their plans are “aligned and coordinated.”
“We know we’re facing a more challenging and complex world. Close security and defense relationships we have with our only ally, Australia, is very foundational for New Zealand.”
The Prime Minister also promised to work on promoting the common values and interests of the two countries.
New Zealand is committed to doing our share of the heavy lifting in the alliance and I’m determined that New Zealand will continue to be alongside Australia as we seek to advance our shared interests and our common values.
The United States and the United Kingdom agreed to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines equipped with US nuclear technology under the AUKUS agreement to address the growing military threat to the region emanating from China. AUKUS is an acronym for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Luxon claimed New Zealand was interested in a commitment from the three partners to develop and share advanced military capabilities, including artificial intelligence, electronic warfare and hypersonics.
“We’ll work our way through that over the course of next year as we understand it more and think about what the opportunities may be for us. AUKUS is a very important element in ensuring we’ve got stability and peace in the region.”
Albanese, for his part, said closer co-operation between the armed forces of the two countries was possible, especially regarding interoperability.
The more that we cooperate, the better the benefit for both of our countries.
New Zealand has banned nuclear-powered ships from using its ports since 1984. Luxon declared its country’s nuclear-free status “not negotiable.”
