Presentation on New Zealand's "Māori foreign policy" and China
Nicholas Ross Smith, Senior Research Fellow, University of Canterbury
Wednesday, 7 June 2023 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Christchurch
Logie 613, University of Canterbury Ilam Campus
The New Zealand Institute of International Affairs - Christchurch Branch warmly invites you to attend a presentation by Nicholas Smith on New Zealand's "Māori foreign policy" and China.
Abstract
In 2021, Aotearoa New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, sketched out a kaupapa Māori (collective Māori vision) foreign policy for New Zealand based on four tikanga Māori (Māori customary practices and behaviours): manaakitanga (hospitality), whanaungatanga (connectedness), mahi tahi and kotahitanga (unity through collaboration), and kaitiakitanga (guardianship and the protection of inter-generational wellbeing). Through assessing the communications of Mahuta and other officials, it is argued that New Zealand is tentatively utilizing a kaupapa Māori framework towards China: the “taniwha and the dragon”. Through this, New Zealand is attempting to consolidate the “maturity” of the Sino-New Zealand relationship as well as differentiate itself from the other “Anglosphere” countries that have recently pushed back on China. Not only is New Zealand something of an outlier, it is demonstrating how eschewing a Western-centric understanding of foreign policy for a more relational view based on indigenous knowledge and perspectives (in this case, from te ao Māori: the Māori worldview) can be applied at a time of increasing great power competition.
Nicholas Ross Smith
Nicholas Ross Smith is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury, currently based at the National Centre for Research on Europe. His research coalesces around the regional implications of great power competition with a particular interest in the foreign policies of relatively smaller states that find themselves caught in the middle. He has published two books and has articles in International Affairs, The Journal of Politics, International Relations, Global Policy, and the Cambridge Review of International Affairs (among others). He is also currently the academic lead of the Jean Monnet Network (2022-25), ‘What Role for the EU in the Indo-Pacific?’ (EUIP).
Zoom Meeting ID: 849 1725 5486
Password: 285667
The New Zealand Institute of International Affairs - Christchurch Branch warmly invites you to attend a presentation by Nicholas Smith on New Zealand's "Māori foreign policy" and China.
Abstract
In 2021, Aotearoa New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, sketched out a kaupapa Māori (collective Māori vision) foreign policy for New Zealand based on four tikanga Māori (Māori customary practices and behaviours): manaakitanga (hospitality), whanaungatanga (connectedness), mahi tahi and kotahitanga (unity through collaboration), and kaitiakitanga (guardianship and the protection of inter-generational wellbeing). Through assessing the communications of Mahuta and other officials, it is argued that New Zealand is tentatively utilizing a kaupapa Māori framework towards China: the “taniwha and the dragon”. Through this, New Zealand is attempting to consolidate the “maturity” of the Sino-New Zealand relationship as well as differentiate itself from the other “Anglosphere” countries that have recently pushed back on China. Not only is New Zealand something of an outlier, it is demonstrating how eschewing a Western-centric understanding of foreign policy for a more relational view based on indigenous knowledge and perspectives (in this case, from te ao Māori: the Māori worldview) can be applied at a time of increasing great power competition.
Nicholas Ross Smith
Nicholas Ross Smith is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury, currently based at the National Centre for Research on Europe. His research coalesces around the regional implications of great power competition with a particular interest in the foreign policies of relatively smaller states that find themselves caught in the middle. He has published two books and has articles in International Affairs, The Journal of Politics, International Relations, Global Policy, and the Cambridge Review of International Affairs (among others). He is also currently the academic lead of the Jean Monnet Network (2022-25), ‘What Role for the EU in the Indo-Pacific?’ (EUIP).
Zoom Meeting ID: 849 1725 5486
Password: 285667
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