Andrew Little, born in 1965, qualifies (barely) as Generation X, while Helen Clark, born in 1950, is undeniably a Baby Boomer. Generation X has a “thing” with Boomers, a strange mix of envy and resentment that manifests itself in their determination not to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors.
If Helen Clark was one of the key driving forces behind Labour’s anti-nuclear policy and the principal author of New Zealand’s independent foreign policy, then Andrew Little has spoken out in support of Aukus Pillar 2. If Helen Clark negotiated the free trade deal with China that has kept New Zealand’s economy afloat through a global financial crisis and Covid-19, then Andrew Little has portrayed our largest trading partner as a dangerous geopolitical disruptor in dire need of English-language “containment”.
It is, if I may use a term popularized by Kamala Harris' vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, “weird.”
More problematic, however, is Andrew Little's support for the ideas of Prof Anne-Marie Brady, the Christchurch academic who has done so much to 'recalibrate' that country's relationship with China.
Just four years ago, Prof. Brady and her colleagues from the research team “Small States and the New Security Environment” had this to say about what they saw as New Zealand’s geopolitical vulnerability: “The global environment has not been this challenging for New Zealand since 1942, when British troops in Singapore, who were New Zealand’s shield, were defeated by the Japanese advance. New Zealand must now confront the national security risk posed by the Covid-19 outbreak. The current situation poses a risk not only to New Zealand, but also to our Pacific partners, Five Eyes and NATO, and to like-minded states that uphold the international rules-based order.”
Scary stuff. It is clear that the Chinese have taken the place of the Japanese in this grim geostrategic scenario. And we must assume that Beijing's “One Belt, One Road” project is the reincarnation of Imperial Japan's “Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”.
If New Zealand's economic survival were not at stake, this kind of reheated Cold War rhetoric would be laughable.
But wait, there’s more. Six years ago, in 2018, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters addressed a large audience in Washington, where he announced New Zealand’s “Pacific Reset.” Here’s part of what Mr. Peters (who happens to be New Zealand’s Foreign Minister again) had to say: “The Pacific Reset… reflects New Zealand’s response to the increasingly contested strategic environment in the Pacific, with more external actors competing for influence. This requires close collaboration with Pacific Island states, Australia, the United States and other partners with historical ties in the region — countries such as Japan, the EU, the UK and France — to uphold the values we share and want to promote in the region; values such as democracy, good governance, greater participation of women and, above all, the rules-based systems on which the region relies.”
It can hardly be a coincidence that the person who invited Mr Peters to speak at the Centre for Australian, New Zealand & Pacific Studies at Georgetown University in Washington was also a member of the same NATO-backed research team dedicated to helping “small states” (like ours) navigate the “new security landscape”, namely Prof Brady.
Small states in a small world.
And guess who was the Minister responsible for New Zealand's National Security (SIS and GCSB) when Winston re-established the Pacific Ocean at Georgetown in 2018 and Professor Brady reminded us of the dangers of being unprotected in that vast sea while Covid was raging?
That's right, it was Andrew Little. The same guy who became New Zealand's Minister of Defence (briefly) less than a year ago.
All of this strongly suggests that the journey to Aukus, the arms purchase deal announced in September 2021, began at least three years before Biden, Sunak and Albanese began talking about equipping Australia with nuclear submarines.
Around the time New Zealand's prime ministers began to present themselves as loyal friends of the West at NATO meetings.
If all these moves and countermoves give you the feeling that New Zealand is being pushed around like a pawn on someone else's chessboard, congratulations: you've been paying attention.
And whoever follows in the footsteps of this younger generation of politicians, it is certainly not Helen Clark's.
■ Chris Trotter is an Auckland-based writer and commentator.