New Zealand begins talks on joining Aukus defence pact

New Zealand will start talks on Wednesday with Australia about cooperating with the Aukus trilateral defence partnership between Australia, Britain and the US, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said, adding Washington needed to do more in the Pacific to counter other political influences there.

Peters heads to Australia on Wednesday for an inaugural joint meeting of New Zealand and Australian foreign and defence ministers, and said the talks would also canvas what joining an expanded Aukus grouping would mean for Wellington.

“Pillar two [of Aukus] is the examination we’re going to look at beginning tonight and tomorrow and going forward,” he said in an interview.

New Zealand’s three-time Foreign Minister Winston Peters pictured in Wellington on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

“Pillar two” of the Aukus pact is separate from the first pillar designed to deliver nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia, but what any new agreement would entail is not yet public. New Zealand has had a nuclear free policy since the 1980s and there has been no indication this will change.

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Аукус пакт оборона присоединение аукус переговоры Великобритания Уинстон Петерс Тихий океан трехсторонний