The European Union and New Zealand Amidst the Changing Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific

Aotearoa New Zealand and the European Union (EU) have a strong and friendly relationship, recently bolstered by the signing of a Free Trade Agreement in 2022. However, when it comes to the Indo-Pacific, the EU has largely been absent in New Zealand’s strategizing to date, other than a brief acknowledgment of the importance of the ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) initiative. New Zealand, like other smaller powers, has sought a middle-ground position in the Indo-Pacific—a kind of asymmetrical alignment in which New Zealand has strong security relations with the US but at the same time has increased trade relations with China. New Zealand’s inherent multivectorism suggests a natural openness to a greater EU presence in the Indo-Pacific, particularly as it could help pacify the threat of a new Cold War emerging (something New Zealand seems keen to avoid). Furthermore, there is a significant overlap between New Zealand’s Indo-Pacific strategizing and that of the EU, especially a strongly aligned interest in maintaining a rules-based Indo-Pacific. Regarding specific domains for security cooperation, New Zealand and the EU have issued joint statements mentioning a desire to cooperate on “ocean governance and maritime security” as well as the areas of counter-terrorism, violent extremism, and foreign interference and disinformation. However, the appropriate conclusion is that for New Zealand, the EU is not currently a particularly relevant security actor in the Indo-Pacific. Importantly, though, this is not a fixed conclusion and given the strong underlying relationship and the compatibility of their Indo-Pacific strategies, it is plausible that greater EU-New Zealand security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific could develop in the coming years.