New Zealand seeks US help to protect Pacific from China over rare minerals, fisheries

New Zealand’s defence minister warned in an interview that small countries in the South Pacific face growing pressure from great power competition for their rare minerals and fisheries wealth, and that more action was needed from regional neighbours to help in preserving island nations’ sovereignty.

Judith Collins, who also oversees New Zealand’s intelligence and space portfolios, spoke on Wednesday before departing for Washington, where she will meet Trump administration officials including Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

New Zealand, a nation of 5 million in the South Pacific, is part of a vast region of mostly small island countries once seen as remote from global tensions. But Collins cited China’s encroaching presence in the region in recent months as evidence of its global security importance.

“And it’s not just that you have Guam, it’s not just that you have Hawaii, as lovely as it is. It’s the fact that your entire California is on the Pacific Ocean, that Alaska is on the Pacific Ocean, that Russia is a Pacific nation.”