NZ gives gloomy assessment of defence environment
HMNZS Canterbury is a critical asset for missions such as disaster relief in the South Pacific. (Gordon Arthur)
Strategic competition and climate change were highlighted as the primary security threats for New Zealand in a recently issued report.
The New Zealand MoD issued its Defence Assessment 2021, subtitled A Rough Sea Can Still Be Navigated, at the end of last year.
The 36-page document came to five conclusions about the security of the country. The first is that the two primary challenges to defence interests are strategic competition and climate change.
For example, it fingered China as being central in strategic competition.
‘China’s rise is the major driver for this competition. Globally, strategic competition is most visible between China and the United States, but all other states are involved to varying degrees.’ This ‘will increase the potential for confrontation
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