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By Lauren Crimp of 

An international relations professor is warning China’s activity in the Tasman Sea shows it wants to establish a permanent military presence in the Pacific, and New Zealand must prepare for that.

Canterbury University’s Anne-Marie Brady said it served as a serious threat, and New Zealand must boost defence spending to protect the region, and respond with its own “show of force”.

The Chinese navy has three ships in international waters off the coast of Australia, and has been conducting live firing exercises at short notice, forcing aircraft to divert their flight paths.

Brady, who specialises in China and the Pacific, said it was an attempt to intimidate that has significantly changed the security environment.

International relations professor Anne-Marie Brady. Photo / RNZ / Jane Patterson

“These are all deliberate signals to New Zealand, and Australia, and the other Pacific governments with military force, such as Fiji and Tonga, that China is wanting to establish a permanent military presence in the region,” she said.

“It’s a threat, it’s a signal that China wants to change the strategic order.”

She warned New Zealand had to do more to defend itself and the Pacific.

Funnelling more money into defence should be top priority after successive governments had “depleted” the force, meaning New Zealand could “barely respond” to China’s challenge, Brady said.

“This particular Government last year twice cut defence spending which is absolutely shocking.

“They need to increase defence spending, and they need to invest in drones and other modern technology, because we don’t have time to train our personnel,” she said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this week said New Zealand will spend more on defence, and a plan would be revealed in due course.

The Defence Capability Plan sought to give certainty about the capability New Zealand would need in defence over the next 15 years, he said.

Brady said New Zealand needed “boots on the ground” in other Pacific Islands, and the Government should negotiate with the likes of Samoa, Fiji and Tonga about establishing a military presence there.

“We need a show of force, and we need to stand with our neighbours, and show that New Zealand is prepared to defend its part of the Pacific along with Australia,” she said.

“We had a wake-up call the week before with the China-Cook Islands agreement, and the ... naval exercises in the Tasman Sea which have affected flights across the Tasman is one of those moments, I think, which we’ll look back on history when everything changed.”

- RNZ