‘We Let People Decide': Tongan PM ‘Aisake Eke Optimistic Ahead Of November Election
Article – RNZ
Dr 'Aisake Eke is optimistic says his government is focused on doing its best, leaving the rest up to the Tongan people. Grace Tinetali-Fiavaai, RNZ Pacific Journalist
Tongan Prime Minister Dr 'Aisake Valu Eke is optimistic about this year's election and says his government is focused on doing its best, leaving the rest up to the Tongan people.
Dr Eke came to power last December after his predecessor Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni resigned in the face of a no-confidence vote brought against him by the current prime minister.
Tongans will head back to the polls in November.
In wide-ranging interview with RNZ Pacific at his office in Nuku'alofa in April, Dr Eke said, 'We just do our best and let the people decide.'
He also confirmed that he will recontest his seat in the Tongatapu 5 constituency.
Improving public service
Dr Eke said his government has sought to improve the public service since coming into office.
'Since we started at the end of January, we introduced some strategy and measures to improve, firstly, [the] efficiency and productivity of public services,' Dr Eke said.
He said this included issuing a directive for government offices to remain open during lunch hours and redirecting government which they deemed unproductive to essential sectors such as fisheries, health, and education.
On the subject of education, he said they brought back national examinations that had been shelved by previous governments and conducted a review of the school breakfast programme.
Volcanic eruption recovery
This year also marks three years since the Hunga Tona-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption and the ensuing tsunami.
While the Hu'akavameiliku had started the recovery work, Dr Eke said around 20 families remain without permanent housing.
He said the government last month approved a supplementary budget of NZ$25 million for the ongoing recovery work.
'About $3 million of that is basically to go to completion of all the houses for the affected people,' he said.
'We aim to complete all of them by the end of this financial year which is in June.'
Although some families are still living in their original damaged homes, he said that in some cases this was a decision made by the communities themselves.
'For example, the Kanukupolu village, they wait for completion of all the houses. About 53 houses are almost completed. They want to come to move in as a group,' he said.
As part of ongoing disaster preparedness and lessons learned from the volcanic eruption, the Tonga National Disaster Management Office has worked with stakeholders to develop an effective tsunami early warning system.
Dr Eke said there have been continuous tests of the system, aimed at making members of the public aware of what they need to do.
'[What] we see is people now changing because this is perhaps several instances where they have to get away from their home and trying to go to a high point,' Dr Eke said.
'And I think that shows how much people learn how to prepare…how to actually conduct themselves.'
Welfare of seasonal workers
On Tongan workers taking part in the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme in New Zealand and the Australian Labour Mobility Scheme, the Prime Minister said said he had some concerns.
'In fact we have heard some reports, not only from them [the workers] themselves but also some of the commentators from Australia and New Zealand,' he said.
'I think we need the safety of our people there…and also at the same time we try to make our people, prepare them well.'
He emphasised that better pastoral care is essential and said Tonga is formalising partnerships with church groups to deliver social and spiritual support to workers abroad.
'Our people actually they value there faith. They vary their faith…that's why I think we should address their social side, the spiritual side, also physical and also their intellectual side,' Dr Eke said.
While economic benefits of the labour mobility schemes in both countries have been positive, Eke says the government has also seen some negative effects, including social impacts in the community on separated families.
Opportunities for economy
He said he wanted to grow and improve Tonga's economy through targeted investment and reform.
'Some of the policies need to be changed. We aim to make the economy viable using all the potential we have.'
He said one pressing issue was a stagnant private sector.
'The private sector over the past two decades or three decades it actually stayed the same, and that's a challenge we are facing.'
However, he said government has begun identifying growth sectors and working with donor agencies and governments to support them, particularly in fisheries and agriculture.
'We have done some work to improve the contribution of the fisheries sector, so we have started discussions with donors to for increasing the number of fishing vessels into the fishing industry.'
He added that the government is also reactivating its national steering committee to monitor economic performance and help craft a more effective strategy in the next financial year.
Infrastructure development is another pillar of the recovery plan, which includes advancing with the previous government's plans to build a bridge across from Ma'ufanga, outside Nuku'alofa, to the eastern division of Tongatapu.
'That actually [would] ease up the pressure on congestion, and also provides an evacuation channel for people to use when there is an emergency,' he said.
'And also that will help develop urban areas for economic growth.'
Global shifts
As current chair of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Dr Eke said there has been a lot of progress made in a short space of time on the regional agenda, particularly finalising the governance framework for the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) and engaging global institutions on funding.
Eke also attended the PIF Troika Plus meeting in Fiji and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings last month, the latter to advocate for more financial support for the region.
On rising global tensions and recent United States trade policies, Dr Eke said Tonga has been pinged with the 10 percent base tariff and is watching developments closely.
'When I look at it in terms of trade with America, in fact it is about a TOP$28 million surplus in favour of America,' he said.
'America is our best friend. We have similar values but there are sometimes economic policies, even though we look at it from an economic point of view, its not a good thing. But I think common sense will prevail.'
He remains hopeful and believes there will be more opportunities ahead.
He also encouraged Tongans around the world to invest in their homeland and develop local enterprises.
'I would like to say to the Tongan people there are (sic) a lot of potential here and you can make a better living.
'The motto of this country is God and Tonga is our inheritance. Working together with faith, optimism comes in, we can do a great thing.'
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The Pentagon, NZ And The New Nuclear Overlap
Article – RNZ The United States is modernising its nuclear weapons command and control system, and while it is not directly involved, New Zealand will feel the effects. Top US officials, nuclear commanders and Pentagon documents say the nuclear command-control-and-communications system – NC3 – will be integrated and 'overlap' with a new global mega-network of battlefield communications. The Combined Joint All-Domain Command-and-Control (CJADC2) mega-network is being built to also cover conventional weapons and all battlefield domains – land, sea, air, space and cyber – with the basic aim to speed up operations and spot threats from far away. 'The two systems have to be overlapped to a great extent so that we can have integration,' the US nuclear command STRATCOM told Congress in 2022. The mega-network is seen by the US as a 'once-in-a-generation modernisation of its approach to commanding military forces', with modernisation of its nuclear system seen as a matter of survival against China and Russia. At the same time, the Pentagon has adopted an aggressive strategy to engage allies and partners more in developing advanced technologies, including the mega-network. New Zealand is involved with this strategy through a growing range of exercises, experiments and agreements on land, sea and in space. The NZ Defence Force (NZDF) has been active for months in anchor CJADC2 projects for both the US Army and US Air Force. 'US, allies and partners integrate for dynamic targeting kill-chain automation experiments,' ran a US Air Force headline about this last year, in a report naming NZ. The NZDF signed up this year for the US Navy's main contribution to the mega-network, called Project Overmatch. The NZ government called these 'efforts to promote peace and security' that would 'improve the survivability and lethality of our platforms'. But the government does not acknowledge any link to the command-and-control of nuclear weapons. The defence forces were 'not involved' in NC3, they said. Ministers, officials and the NZDF had no information or advice about this, RNZ was told. 'Any linkages between the United States NC3 and its joint all-domain command and control strategy are a matter for the government of the United States,' the defence ministry said. US authorities have talked repeatedly about the growing linkage, partly to increase resiliency, using layers of new satellites. RNZ asked the Pentagon if it had considered what that might mean for nuclear-free New Zealand. 'The DOD [Department of Defence] respects the policies of our allies and partners, and routinely accounts for them in planning and cooperation,' it replied. The NZ defence ministry has made one small move, carving out a non-nuclear niche for a US-led satellite-monitoring hub in Auckland. 'You couldn't afford to build two completely separate systems' While there is no suggestion NZ actually has its hands on a nuclear device or trigger, it is subject to the same rapid technological and geopolitical changes disrupting and reshaping the world's armed forces, including the US nuclear wing that NZ shelters under. That nuclear wing is ageing, and the hugely expensive decades-long effort to overhaul it – US President Donald Trump wants to increase spending on nuclear weapons by 29 percent this year to $41 billion – will alter how NC3 works, and what it interacts with. The head of nuclear command Admiral Chas Richard said in 2022: 'It is to our benefit, where appropriate, to use our conventional command and control to add redundancy and resiliency to our nuclear command and control. 'You couldn't afford to build two completely separate systems if we tried to achieve that in the real world.' He told the Senate Armed Services Committee he was 'very pleased that a subset of what JADC2 is doing is for nuclear command and control'. The US added a 'C' at the front of JADC2 last year to reflect allies' growing engagement. A 2022 Pentagon strategy for building CJADC2 detailed five workstreams: The fourth was 'integrating with Nuclear C2 and C3'. 'It's important to realise that JADC2 and NC3 are intertwined because, well, NC3 will operate in elements of JADC2,' the head of STRATCOM Air Force General John Hyten was quoted by US defence media in 2020. 'NC3 will also operate in things that are separate from JADC2 because of the unique nature of the nuclear business, but it will operate in significant elements of JADC2,' Hyten said. 'Not involved' and no information Prime Minister and National Security and Intelligence Minister Christopher Luxon was asked by RNZ if the government had any information linking NC3 to New Zealand. After initially sending the request to the defence ministry, his office later produced a single document, which was not relevant. Asked the same thing, Defence Minister Judith Collins' office said: 'No information in scope of your request has been identified.' The defence agencies also had no information on any links. But they unequivocally stated: 'The New Zealand Defence Force is not involved in the United States' Nuclear Command Control and Communications' and 'The Ministry of Defence has no involvement in the United States' Nuclear Command-Control-Communications.' The Pentagon issued a three-line statement to RNZ: 'The DOD respects the policies of our allies and partners, and routinely accounts for them in planning and cooperation. Our defence relationship with New Zealand remains strong. 'We remain committed to ensuring our cooperation aligns with legal and policy frameworks.' The defence ministry's OIA response said that when the government agreed to the US setting up a hub for monitoring satellites and space activity in Auckland in 2023, the ministry included a condition that the operation 'does not contribute to nuclear command and control systems and that NZDF personnel will not aid or abet activity enabling possession or control over nuclear weapons'. Space – and space launches – are integral to any upgrade of NC3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in May that any military participation in space-related activities with the US was subject to 'express caveats to ensure that it does not contribute to nuclear command and control systems'. 'The prospect of nuclear decapitation' Both efforts – NC3 and CJADC2 – are hugely complex and expensive. The US feels it has no choice, with its lawmakers and think-tanks increasingly expressing the idea that it faces an existential threat like never before. 'The United States will face two nuclear peer adversaries for the first time,' said a 2023 congressional report, delivered by only the second Strategic Posture Commission to report back since 2009. 'Their projected capabilities magnify how complex this competition could become, and combine to pose an existential threat to the United States and its allies and partners.' China has more than doubled its arsenal of nuclear warheads in recent years to an estimated 600, heading for more than 1000 by 2030. At the same time, Beijing is adding non-nuclear weapons that will be able to attack in new ways in space, where nuclear command has a lot of its tech. 'New Russian and Chinese weapons make Washington's nuclear command structure vulnerable to attack,' the vice chair of the non-partisan Commission on the National Defence Strategy Eric Edelman wrote early this month. 'These emerging capabilities raise a spectre that the US government has not had to face for at least 35 years: The prospect of nuclear decapitation.' The US has about 3700 warheads. The problem is not the scale, but the age of the nuclear 'wing': Four-decade-old Minuteman missiles, superannuitant nuclear bombers, and systems that till a few years ago were running on 1980s floppy discs. The US fleet of nuclear-armed submarines is stretched. The parts of the system relied on to detect enemy launches of nukes, track missiles and launch an attack are also old. Trump, like presidents before him, is dependent on NC3 for what he knows about a threat and how he responds, and NC3 remains highly dependent on a few big, old satellites. In March, US lawmakers backed calls by their nuclear and space commanders to push on with upgrades across the nuclear system. 'We are talking about being strong enough to prevent a nuclear war, and nothing could be more important,' Republican senator Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at the hearing. That strength will be impacted by Trump's proposed 'golden dome' defence shield against nuclear and conventional missiles. Some analysts say it could actually cut nuclear stockpiles by reducing the perceived threat in Washington, but others say it could fuel a space arms race. 'Number one priority for the United States Army for modernisation' Senior Pentagon leaders have for years been saying that their systems are not up to the task, and not just the nuclear ones. They stated their 'existing command and control architecture is insufficient to meet the demands of the 2018 National Defence Strategy', the Congressional Research Service said in 2022. The response has been to embark on building platforms 'to connect sensors from all of the military services – Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force – into a single network', in a 'once-in-a-generation modernisation'. The mega-network plan predates Trump and its buildout as planned would outlast him. Some defence analysts have expressed doubts it might be too ambitious, congressional reports show. In its statement to RNZ, the Pentagon did not address whether work on CJADC2 was changing at all under the Trump White House. However, a US commander in March called the network 'incredibly important, probably [the] number one priority for the United States Army for modernisation'. 'We will never achieve our warfighting effectiveness if we don't have a command-and-control network that enables our commanders to execute mission command at the point of need on the battlefield. Period, full stop.' 'Bloc confrontation' The work on both nuclear and conventional sides picked up after the US Space Force was set up in 2019, with the pace increasing even more under the recent strategy to work with allies more. Another main driver has been the rapidly deteriorating geopolitical environment, which governments from Wellington to London have cited as the main reason to ramp up defence spending. At the same time, Ukraine has ushered in huge changes to warfighting tech and tactics, with the 'conventional' weapons stable expanding to include very unconventional hypersonic missiles, drones, electromagnetic jammers and lasers. The US Space Force laid out in March a package of six new space weapons it wants to underwrite its aggressive new posture. But anything it can attack with in space represents a potential threat to its own command-and-control networks. The New Zealand government has committed to spending a growing proportion for defence on emerging technologies. Collins, the defence and space minister, repeated this at a recent security summit in Singapore. At the same summit, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said China was 'credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power' in Asia. On the summit sidelines, he also called on Australia to ramp up its defence spending even further, 'as soon as possible'. China accused Hegseth of trying to engineer a Cold War 'bloc confrontation' between it and other countries in the region. In an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, former political leaders Helen Clark and Don Brash, among others, said the country was in danger of taking sides, with the US versus China. But Luxon pushed back on Monday, saying times had changed, and New Zealand had 'deep engagement and cooperation' with both countries. 'We will make our own assessment based on our own needs as to how we navigate those relationships,' Luxon told Morning Report. 'We offer a global launchpad for all things space' Non-nuclear New Zealand finds itself in an unusual position compared to its partners in the Five Eyes intelligence group – the US, Canada, UK and Australia – and compared to others in the Indo-Pacific region. It is a defence minnow, but it is party to intelligence few others get. It is an enthusiastic participant in efforts to build the CJADC2 mega-network, papers show, but has limited high-tech of its own to add, at least until the new spending on defence kicks in. Its armed forces have no space assets, but hosted more space launches than Russia last year. It is very keen to secure international space business. 'We offer a global launchpad for all things space,' Collins told a space symposium outside the US Space Force base in Colorado in April, an OIA showed, but the country also has four-decade-old nuclear-free laws. It added a new law in 2017 forbidding rocket launches that 'contribute to nuclear weapons programmes or capabilities'. The US military began talks this year with New Zealand and several other countries that can launch or want to, about using their spaceports in future, RNZ revealed last month. While both CJADC2 and NC3 would require many more satellites, it remains unclear if these would be allowed to be launched outside the US, given the extra security settings on anything nuclear. This remains classified, along with many other details of how conventional and nuclear systems integrate, although STRATCOM has stressed the highest-security parts of NC3 would be kept separate. Partial separation was vital, said leading nuclear system analysts at the Atlantic Council last year. 'Risk tolerance for NC3 systems is understandably non-existent; there can be no uncertainty in the ability of the United States to positively command and control its nuclear forces at any given moment,' wrote Peter Hays and Sarah Mineiro. 'US and our allies are trailblazing upgrades' Secrets aside, STRATCOM nuclear command has been clear about expanding the 'tent' of its command-and-control. 'You have to have that interface back and forth,' General Hyten said to defence media, when talking about the technology. It has also been transparent about the role of allies. 'The US and our allies are trailblazing upgrades and capitalising on new technologies to maintain credible and effective deterrence,' said the head of STRATCOM General Anthony Cotton last year. The two-pronged integration between technologies and allies is charted across multiple strategies, plans and administrations. 'We seek to network our efforts across domains, theatres, and the spectrum of conflict to ensure that the US military, in close cooperation with the rest of the US government and our Allies and partners, makes the folly and costs of aggression very clear,' said former President Joe Biden's Deputy Secretary of Defence Dr Kathleen Hicks. 'Cutting edge of military experimentation' The CJADC2 mega-network now involves more than three dozen militaries. The first satellites to support it were launched last year from America's spaceports. The NZDF has engaged in US-led ground, air and naval experiments and exercises since at least the start of 2024, with a primary objective to build out the network. An exercise in March -called Convergence Capstone 5 – was 'a critical proving ground' for a networked fighting force, the NZDF said. 'It puts us at the cutting edge of military experimentation.' It had observers for the first time in 2024 at a Global Information Domination Exercise (GIDE), linked to Project Convergence. The 2023 Talisman Sabre US-Australia bilateral the NZDF was invited to let the partners from 16 countries communicate on one system for the first time. 'We've never set up this kind of construct before,' a US officer told media. For Talisman Sabre 2025, while the NZDF is taking just one drone of its own, it gets to work with the US's much bigger and more deadly fleet, on the eve of the Pentagon rolling out its Replicator strategy for tens of thousands of drones across the Indo-Pacific. Interoperability and modernisation were the key, said defence force reports, released under the OIA. A 'priority for experimentation is highly likely to remain focussed on sensor integration and data sharing/availability', it said about Project Convergence. Under the US Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System, the NZDF – along with Japan, Germany and France – took part in targeting accelerated by AI last year. Other experiments took place to connect US operators with the Five Eyes Battle Labs, also known as the Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network. For Project Overmatch, the US Navy had by 2021 been 'experimenting in a way that allows us to essentially pass any data on any network to the warfighter'. When the NZDF signed a project agreement to join Overmatch along with other Five Eyes partners in February, the Pentagon called the move 'historic'. 'Joint efforts to promote peace and security' In Project Overmatch – under the slogan 'Decide first, win' – faster satellite-to-gun connections have so far been added to three aircraft carrier groups in the Pacific. Collins sought in May to play down joining Overmatch, a move that went unannounced and was only revealed by RNZ. 'The NZDF routinely engages partners in joint efforts to promote peace and security, many of which are not announced or publicised,' Collins told Parliament in response to a question from the Greens. 'Project Overmatch is part of the US Combined Joint Command and Control strategy,' she added. 'The NZDF signed a Project Overmatch programme arrangement to explore ways in which our maritime forces can interoperate with partner nations, connect securely despite the actions of adversaries, and improve the survivability and lethality of our platforms.' However, the minister [ttps:// also said] she had received no aides-mémoire, briefings, memos, notes, reports or any other advice about Overmatch. The NZDF joined Overmatch a few weeks before its $12 billion defence capability plan was unveiled by Collins. NZ resisting the 'deep slide' – govt The government recently restated its anti-nuclear credentials made world-famous by former Prime Minister David Lange's riposte in an Oxford Union debate in 1987: 'I can smell the uranium on your breath.' In a speech in early 2024, Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Todd McClay warned the world was in a 'deep slide' over nuclear weapons. 'Investments to modernise arsenals and, in some concerning cases, increase arsenals, is likely to lead to the further entrenchment of nuclear weapons for decades to come,' McClay told a disarmament conference. 'And mistrust has grown. 'And in the absence of any discernible progress to disarm, the seeming incentive persists for the 'have-nots' to join the 'haves' and acquire these terrible weapons.' McClay reiterated the country's longstanding calls for full implementation of the treaties on non-proliferation and on prohibition of nuclear weapons. McClay was not available for an interview for this story. 'Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture' Both CJADC2 and NC3 depend on what happens in space, and Hegseth has said space would become the most important battle domain. New satellites to warn against nuclear attack are scheduled to be launched later this year, a step towards replacing a 14-year-old system called SBIRS, a space-based infrared system. Hundreds of small satellites in two layers are also going up to form the 'backbone' of CJADC2, US Space Force said. This 'Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture' (PWSA) is providing big business for several large defence contractors. 'Proliferation' has become the Pentagon buzzword, a strategy of spreading out technology, especially in space, to make it much harder for an enemy to register a knockout blow. Another recent strategy is to contract commercial space companies to help it achieve 'responsive' launch – fast turnaround launches in case satellites do get knocked out. The NZDF has a tiny space footprint but is aiming to make it bigger, with American help. Its first space payloads – which went up this year and last year – are within the Five Eyes newly 'federated space system' and under a bigger project by the US Navy to achieve laser-fast satellite communications Collins denied the experiments had anything to do with the Project Overmatch: 'The Tui and Korimako payloads are for research purposes only and have no direct utility for military operations,' she said. The NZDF had said earlier: 'These experiments will generate NZDF knowledge to drive future military space operations.' 'Force multipliers for strengthening deterrence' The integration and overlap of conventional and nuclear command-control-and-communications systems is going ahead, official records from within the US show. The impetus to do more faster is growing. 'US nuclear planners… need to plan for the possibility of a combined Sino-Russian nuclear attack,' Edelman said this month. His opinion piece on the website Foreign Policy was headlined 'America's latest problem: A three-way nuclear race'. 'The recent joint Chinese-Russian strategic bomber patrols near Alaska demonstrate that this is not just a theoretical concern,' he wrote. While America's defence doctrine does not rule out a first strike, its stress has always been on deterrence. The Pentagon and lawmakers are agreed their old nuclear systems do not provide the best deterrent, and must be modernised. They have also looked at command-and-control on all fronts, arrived at the same conclusion and came up with a joined-up approach – joined-up tech, with joined-up allies and partners. A subsection of a 2024 Pentagon report, headlined 'Optimising innovation cooperation with allies and partners', warned the US was not adequately integrating key allies and partners, and it recommended that the 'DoD should leverage these strengths through new and innovative mechanisms of cooperation'. The Nuclear Posture Review in 2022, in a section on the Indo-Pacific, stated: 'We view the expertise, capabilities, and resources of our allies and partners as 'force multipliers' for strengthening deterrence.'
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Macron Talks New Caledonia At Pacific-France Summit
Article – RNZ Macron dedicated a significant part of his address to the situation in New Caledonia. , Correspondent French Pacific Desk French president Emmanuel Macron chaired a Pacific-France summit on Tuesday, in the margins of the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) held in Nice. In his opening speech, the French head of state touched on several aspects of France's cooperation in the Pacific region, including in terms of environment, defence and geostrategy. €2 million Euros for Pacific Forum's Resilient Facility Pledging to maintain France's diplomacy 'in very close connection with our common interests in the Pacific', including the recent opening of a new Embassy in Apia, Samoa, Macron acknowledged the 'central' role played by the Pacific Islands Forum, which will receive about €2 million Euros as a contribution to the Pacific Resilient Facility fund for the region. He also mentioned the opening of a project to introduce new air links connecting French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. He also touched on France-Pacific cooperation at 'strategic and military' levels, through a recently-created 'Pacific Academy' and regular joint regional exercises in order to foster 'common credibility to protect our zones and fight against illegal fishing'. High on the agenda were key issues such as climate change and its adverse effects on Pacific Island states on human lives and biodiversity, natural disasters affecting the region, breaches of sovereignty and security resulting from illegal fishing, and trans-regional crime, especially the rising problem of drug trafficking. In terms of regional maritime security and fight against criminality, especially illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), France, but also Australia and New Zealand Navys are regularly contributing to patrols in the Pacific Islands Forum's Fisheries Agency (FFA) member states' exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Significant part dedicated to New Caledonia Macron dedicated a significant part of his address to the situation in New Caledonia, one year after the deadly riots that broke out in May 2024 (causing 14 deaths and and estimated €2.2 billion Euros in damages). He told Pacific leaders he was aware of Pacific concerns about 'the events that destabilized New Caledonia a year ago '. 'I want to tell you here… The French state has respected its commitments made decades ago by organizing in recent years three referendums with United Nations observers which were validated and noted. 'But a year ago, violence broke out, triggered by several factors… which we took very seriously.' Macron said since then, France has unlocked 'more than €3 billion Euros' for New Caledonia's economic reconstruction. 'And we have spared no effort with the government, in particular the Minister of State [Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls] to restore dialogue between all parties.' Since February Valls has managed to bring all of New Caledonia's political camps around the same table, something that had not happened since 2022. But the proposal he put on the table in early May, during a behind-closed-doors 'conclave', drew ire from parties in favour of New Caledonia remaining a part of France. They objected, saying Valls' project failed to take into account that the three recent referendums had expressed a rejection of independence and that the Minister's 'sovereignty with France' offer (including transfer of key powers from France to New Caledonia, a dual Kanaky-France citizenship and an international standing) was tantamount to some form of independence which they strongly objected to. A 'new project' on the table in July? On discussions about a resumption of talks to find a bipartisan and comprehensive agreement on the French Pacific territory's future political status, Macron also confirmed that he will 'hold a summit in Paris in the coming weeks to bring together all stakeholders again and manage to come up with a new project'. Macron said after holding three referendums between 2018 and 2021 on New Caledonia's sovereignty, he was not in favour of holding yet another one. 'I must say I honestly believe Pacific, Oceanian or Melanesian cultures are more based on consultation and circularity, not really suited for referendums …whereby you're supposed to express a clearcut yes or no.' We won't make the same mistakes again 'We will not make the same mistakes again in the future,' Macron told Pacific islands leaders, including those from the three French Pacific territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna. He said building a political solution for New Caledonia was still work in progress 'with a lot of humility, together'. And in this process, he told regional leaders 'we welcome your advice' and 'recommendations'. He mentioned and thanked Pacific Islands Forum leaders for a fact-finding mission that travelled to New Caledonia in late 2024 and gave rise to 'very productive exchanges'. 'We will do all we can to succeed and I am confident we'll do it with respect for everyone and for all (New) Caledonians, for peace, unity and stability in the region. 'But we are trying to hold this dialogue while respecting the various opinions and the principles of democracy.' During the same Pacific-France summit, Macron also held talks with leaders from Papua New Guinea, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The Pacific Islands Forum delegation was headed by its secretary-general Baron Waqa.
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The Pentagon, NZ And The New Nuclear Overlap
Article – RNZ The US is modernising its nuclear weapons command and control system – but what does that mean for New Zealand? , Reporter The United States is modernising its nuclear weapons command and control system, and while it is not directly involved, New Zealand will feel the effects. Top US officials, nuclear commanders and Pentagon documents say the nuclear command-control-and-communications system – NC3 – will be integrated and 'overlap' with a new global mega-network of battlefield communications. The Combined Joint All-Domain Command-and-Control (CJADC2) mega-network is being built to also cover conventional weapons and all battlefield domains – land, sea, air, space and cyber – with the basic aim to speed up operations and spot threats from far away. 'The two systems have to be overlapped to a great extent so that we can have integration,' the US nuclear command STRATCOM told Congress in 2022. The mega-network is seen by the US as a 'once-in-a-generation modernisation of its approach to commanding military forces', with modernisation of its nuclear system seen as a matter of survival against China and Russia. At the same time, the Pentagon has adopted an aggressive strategy to engage allies and partners more in developing advanced technologies, including the mega-network. New Zealand is involved with this strategy through a growing range of exercises, experiments and agreements on land, sea and in space. The NZ Defence Force (NZDF) has been active for months in anchor CJADC2 projects for both the US Army and US Air Force. 'US, allies and partners integrate for dynamic targeting kill-chain automation experiments,' ran a US Air Force headline about this last year, in a report naming NZ. The NZDF signed up this year for the US Navy's main contribution to the mega-network, called Project Overmatch. The NZ government called these 'efforts to promote peace and security' that would 'improve the survivability and lethality of our platforms'. But the government does not acknowledge any link to the command-and-control of nuclear weapons. The defence forces were 'not involved' in NC3, they said. Ministers, officials and the NZDF had no information or advice about this, RNZ was told. 'Any linkages between the United States NC3 and its joint all-domain command and control strategy are a matter for the government of the United States,' the defence ministry said. US authorities have talked repeatedly about the growing linkage, partly to increase resiliency, using layers of new satellites. RNZ asked the Pentagon if it had considered what that might mean for nuclear-free New Zealand. 'The DOD [Department of Defence] respects the policies of our allies and partners, and routinely accounts for them in planning and cooperation,' it replied. The NZ defence ministry has made one small move, carving out a non-nuclear niche for a US-led satellite-monitoring hub in Auckland. 'You couldn't afford to build two completely separate systems' While there is no suggestion NZ actually has its hands on a nuclear device or trigger, it is subject to the same rapid technological and geopolitical changes disrupting and reshaping the world's armed forces, including the US nuclear wing that NZ shelters under. That nuclear wing is ageing, and the hugely expensive decades-long effort to overhaul it – US President Donald Trump wants to increase spending on nuclear weapons by 29 percent this year to $41 billion – will alter how NC3 works, and what it interacts with. The head of nuclear command Admiral Chas Richard said in 2022: 'It is to our benefit, where appropriate, to use our conventional command and control to add redundancy and resiliency to our nuclear command and control. 'You couldn't afford to build two completely separate systems if we tried to achieve that in the real world.' He told the Senate Armed Services Committee he was 'very pleased that a subset of what JADC2 is doing is for nuclear command and control'. The US added a 'C' at the front of JADC2 last year to reflect allies' growing engagement. A 2022 Pentagon strategy for building CJADC2 detailed five workstreams: The fourth was 'integrating with Nuclear C2 and C3'. 'It's important to realise that JADC2 and NC3 are intertwined because, well, NC3 will operate in elements of JADC2,' the head of STRATCOM Air Force General John Hyten was quoted by US defence media in 2020. 'NC3 will also operate in things that are separate from JADC2 because of the unique nature of the nuclear business, but it will operate in significant elements of JADC2,' Hyten said. 'Not involved' and no information Prime Minister and National Security and Intelligence Minister Christopher Luxon was asked by RNZ if the government had any information linking NC3 to New Zealand. After initially sending the request to the defence ministry, his office later produced a single document, which was not relevant. Asked the same thing, Defence Minister Judith Collins' office said: 'No information in scope of your request has been identified.' The defence agencies also had no information on any links. But they unequivocally stated: 'The New Zealand Defence Force is not involved in the United States' Nuclear Command Control and Communications' and 'The Ministry of Defence has no involvement in the United States' Nuclear Command-Control-Communications.' The Pentagon issued a three-line statement to RNZ: 'The DOD respects the policies of our allies and partners, and routinely accounts for them in planning and cooperation. Our defence relationship with New Zealand remains strong. 'We remain committed to ensuring our cooperation aligns with legal and policy frameworks.' The defence ministry's OIA response said that when the government agreed to the US setting up a hub for monitoring satellites and space activity in Auckland in 2023, the ministry included a condition that the operation 'does not contribute to nuclear command and control systems and that NZDF personnel will not aid or abet activity enabling possession or control over nuclear weapons'. Space – and space launches – are integral to any upgrade of NC3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in May that any military participation in space-related activities with the US was subject to 'express caveats to ensure that it does not contribute to nuclear command and control systems'. 'The prospect of nuclear decapitation' Both efforts – NC3 and CJADC2 – are hugely complex and expensive. The US feels it has no choice, with its lawmakers and think-tanks increasingly expressing the idea that it faces an existential threat like never before. 'The United States will face two nuclear peer adversaries for the first time,' said a 2023 congressional report, delivered by only the second Strategic Posture Commission to report back since 2009. 'Their projected capabilities magnify how complex this competition could become, and combine to pose an existential threat to the United States and its allies and partners.' China has more than doubled its arsenal of nuclear warheads in recent years to an estimated 600, heading for more than 1000 by 2030. At the same time, Beijing is adding non-nuclear weapons that will be able to attack in new ways in space, where nuclear command has a lot of its tech. 'New Russian and Chinese weapons make Washington's nuclear command structure vulnerable to attack,' the vice chair of the non-partisan Commission on the National Defence Strategy Eric Edelman wrote early this month. 'These emerging capabilities raise a spectre that the US government has not had to face for at least 35 years: The prospect of nuclear decapitation.' The US has about 3700 warheads. The problem is not the scale, but the age of the nuclear 'wing': Four-decade-old Minuteman missiles, superannuitant nuclear bombers, and systems that till a few years ago were running on 1980s floppy discs. The US fleet of nuclear-armed submarines is stretched. The parts of the system relied on to detect enemy launches of nukes, track missiles and launch an attack are also old. Trump, like presidents before him, is dependent on NC3 for what he knows about a threat and how he responds, and NC3 remains highly dependent on a few big, old satellites. In March, US lawmakers backed calls by their nuclear and space commanders to push on with upgrades across the nuclear system. 'We are talking about being strong enough to prevent a nuclear war, and nothing could be more important,' Republican senator Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at the hearing. That strength will be impacted by Trump's proposed 'golden dome' defence shield against nuclear and conventional missiles. Some analysts say it could actually cut nuclear stockpiles by reducing the perceived threat in Washington, but others say it could fuel a space arms race. 'Number one priority for the United States Army for modernisation' Senior Pentagon leaders have for years been saying that their systems are not up to the task, and not just the nuclear ones. They stated their 'existing command and control architecture is insufficient to meet the demands of the 2018 National Defence Strategy', the Congressional Research Service said in 2022. The response has been to embark on building platforms 'to connect sensors from all of the military services – Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force – into a single network', in a 'once-in-a-generation modernisation'. The mega-network plan predates Trump and its buildout as planned would outlast him. Some defence analysts have expressed doubts it might be too ambitious, congressional reports show. In its statement to RNZ, the Pentagon did not address whether work on CJADC2 was changing at all under the Trump White House. However, a US commander in March called the network 'incredibly important, probably [the] number one priority for the United States Army for modernisation'. 'We will never achieve our warfighting effectiveness if we don't have a command-and-control network that enables our commanders to execute mission command at the point of need on the battlefield. Period, full stop.' 'Bloc confrontation' The work on both nuclear and conventional sides picked up after the US Space Force was set up in 2019, with the pace increasing even more under the recent strategy to work with allies more. Another main driver has been the rapidly deteriorating geopolitical environment, which governments from Wellington to London have cited as the main reason to ramp up defence spending. At the same time, Ukraine has ushered in huge changes to warfighting tech and tactics, with the 'conventional' weapons stable expanding to include very unconventional hypersonic missiles, drones, electromagnetic jammers and lasers. The US Space Force laid out in March a package of six new space weapons it wants to underwrite its aggressive new posture. But anything it can attack with in space represents a potential threat to its own command-and-control networks. The New Zealand government has committed to spending a growing proportion for defence on emerging technologies. Collins, the defence and space minister, repeated this at a recent security summit in Singapore. At the same summit, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said China was 'credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power' in Asia. On the summit sidelines, he also called on Australia to ramp up its defence spending even further, 'as soon as possible'. China accused Hegseth of trying to engineer a Cold War 'bloc confrontation' between it and other countries in the region. In an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, former political leaders Helen Clark and Don Brash, among others, said the country was in danger of taking sides, with the US versus China. But Luxon pushed back on Monday, saying times had changed, and New Zealand had 'deep engagement and cooperation' with both countries. 'We will make our own assessment based on our own needs as to how we navigate those relationships,' Luxon told Morning Report. 'We offer a global launchpad for all things space' Non-nuclear New Zealand finds itself in an unusual position compared to its partners in the Five Eyes intelligence group – the US, Canada, UK and Australia – and compared to others in the Indo-Pacific region. It is a defence minnow, but it is party to intelligence few others get. It is an enthusiastic participant in efforts to build the CJADC2 mega-network, papers show, but has limited high-tech of its own to add, at least until the new spending on defence kicks in. Its armed forces have no space assets, but hosted more space launches than Russia last year. It is very keen to secure international space business. 'We offer a global launchpad for all things space,' Collins told a space symposium outside the US Space Force base in Colorado in April, an OIA showed, but the country also has four-decade-old nuclear-free laws. It added a new law in 2017 forbidding rocket launches that 'contribute to nuclear weapons programmes or capabilities'. The US military began talks this year with New Zealand and several other countries that can launch or want to, about using their spaceports in future, RNZ revealed last month. While both CJADC2 and NC3 would require many more satellites, it remains unclear if these would be allowed to be launched outside the US, given the extra security settings on anything nuclear. This remains classified, along with many other details of how conventional and nuclear systems integrate, although STRATCOM has stressed the highest-security parts of NC3 would be kept separate. Partial separation was vital, said leading nuclear system analysts at the Atlantic Council last year. 'Risk tolerance for NC3 systems is understandably non-existent; there can be no uncertainty in the ability of the United States to positively command and control its nuclear forces at any given moment,' wrote Peter Hays and Sarah Mineiro. 'US and our allies are trailblazing upgrades' Secrets aside, STRATCOM nuclear command has been clear about expanding the 'tent' of its command-and-control. 'You have to have that interface back and forth,' General Hyten said to defence media, when talking about the technology. It has also been transparent about the role of allies. 'The US and our allies are trailblazing upgrades and capitalising on new technologies to maintain credible and effective deterrence,' said the head of STRATCOM General Anthony Cotton last year. The two-pronged integration between technologies and allies is charted across multiple strategies, plans and administrations. 'We seek to network our efforts across domains, theatres, and the spectrum of conflict to ensure that the US military, in close cooperation with the rest of the US government and our Allies and partners, makes the folly and costs of aggression very clear,' said former President Joe Biden's Deputy Secretary of Defence Dr Kathleen Hicks. 'Cutting edge of military experimentation' The CJADC2 mega-network now involves more than three dozen militaries. The first satellites to support it were launched last year from America's spaceports. The NZDF has engaged in US-led ground, air and naval experiments and exercises since at least the start of 2024, with a primary objective to build out the network. An exercise in March -called Convergence Capstone 5 – was 'a critical proving ground' for a networked fighting force, the NZDF said. 'It puts us at the cutting edge of military experimentation.' It had observers for the first time in 2024 at a Global Information Domination Exercise (GIDE), linked to Project Convergence. The 2023 Talisman Sabre US-Australia bilateral the NZDF was invited to let the partners from 16 countries communicate on one system for the first time. 'We've never set up this kind of construct before,' a US officer told media. For Talisman Sabre 2025, while the NZDF is taking just one drone of its own, it gets to work with the US's much bigger and more deadly fleet, on the eve of the Pentagon rolling out its Replicator strategy for tens of thousands of drones across the Indo-Pacific. Interoperability and modernisation were the key, said defence force reports, released under the OIA. A 'priority for experimentation is highly likely to remain focussed on sensor integration and data sharing/availability', it said about Project Convergence. Under the US Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System, the NZDF – along with Japan, Germany and France – took part in targeting accelerated by AI last year. Other experiments took place to connect US operators with the Five Eyes Battle Labs, also known as the Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network. For Project Overmatch, the US Navy had by 2021 been 'experimenting in a way that allows us to essentially pass any data on any network to the warfighter'. When the NZDF signed a project agreement to join Overmatch along with other Five Eyes partners in February, the Pentagon called the move 'historic'. 'Joint efforts to promote peace and security' In Project Overmatch – under the slogan 'Decide first, win' – faster satellite-to-gun connections have so far been added to three aircraft carrier groups in the Pacific. Collins sought in May to play down joining Overmatch, a move that went unannounced and was only revealed by RNZ. 'The NZDF routinely engages partners in joint efforts to promote peace and security, many of which are not announced or publicised,' Collins told Parliament in response to a question from the Greens. 'Project Overmatch is part of the US Combined Joint Command and Control strategy,' she added. 'The NZDF signed a Project Overmatch programme arrangement to explore ways in which our maritime forces can interoperate with partner nations, connect securely despite the actions of adversaries, and improve the survivability and lethality of our platforms.' However, the minister [ttps:// also said] she had received no aides-mémoire, briefings, memos, notes, reports or any other advice about Overmatch. The NZDF joined Overmatch a few weeks before its $12 billion defence capability plan was unveiled by Collins. NZ resisting the 'deep slide' – govt The government recently restated its anti-nuclear credentials made world-famous by former Prime Minister David Lange's riposte in an Oxford Union debate in 1987: 'I can smell the uranium on your breath.' In a speech in early 2024, Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Todd McClay warned the world was in a 'deep slide' over nuclear weapons. 'Investments to modernise arsenals and, in some concerning cases, increase arsenals, is likely to lead to the further entrenchment of nuclear weapons for decades to come,' McClay told a disarmament conference. 'And mistrust has grown. 'And in the absence of any discernible progress to disarm, the seeming incentive persists for the 'have-nots' to join the 'haves' and acquire these terrible weapons.' McClay reiterated the country's longstanding calls for full implementation of the treaties on non-proliferation and on prohibition of nuclear weapons. McClay was not available for an interview for this story. 'Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture' Both CJADC2 and NC3 depend on what happens in space, and Hegseth has said space would become the most important battle domain. New satellites to warn against nuclear attack are scheduled to be launched later this year, a step towards replacing a 14-year-old system called SBIRS, a space-based infrared system. Hundreds of small satellites in two layers are also going up to form the 'backbone' of CJADC2, US Space Force said. This 'Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture' (PWSA) is providing big business for several large defence contractors. 'Proliferation' has become the Pentagon buzzword, a strategy of spreading out technology, especially in space, to make it much harder for an enemy to register a knockout blow. Another recent strategy is to contract commercial space companies to help it achieve 'responsive' launch – fast turnaround launches in case satellites do get knocked out. The NZDF has a tiny space footprint but is aiming to make it bigger, with American help. Its first space payloads – which went up this year and last year – are within the Five Eyes newly 'federated space system' and under a bigger project by the US Navy to achieve laser-fast satellite communications Collins denied the experiments had anything to do with the Project Overmatch: 'The Tui and Korimako payloads are for research purposes only and have no direct utility for military operations,' she said. The NZDF had said earlier: 'These experiments will generate NZDF knowledge to drive future military space operations.' 'Force multipliers for strengthening deterrence' The integration and overlap of conventional and nuclear command-control-and-communications systems is going ahead, official records from within the US show. The impetus to do more faster is growing. 'US nuclear planners… need to plan for the possibility of a combined Sino-Russian nuclear attack,' Edelman said this month. His opinion piece on the website Foreign Policy was headlined 'America's latest problem: A three-way nuclear race'. 'The recent joint Chinese-Russian strategic bomber patrols near Alaska demonstrate that this is not just a theoretical concern,' he wrote. While America's defence doctrine does not rule out a first strike, its stress has always been on deterrence. The Pentagon and lawmakers are agreed their old nuclear systems do not provide the best deterrent, and must be modernised. They have also looked at command-and-control on all fronts, arrived at the same conclusion and came up with a joined-up approach – joined-up tech, with joined-up allies and partners. A subsection of a 2024 Pentagon report, headlined 'Optimising innovation cooperation with allies and partners', warned the US was not adequately integrating key allies and partners, and it recommended that the 'DoD should leverage these strengths through new and innovative mechanisms of cooperation'. The Nuclear Posture Review in 2022, in a section on the Indo-Pacific, stated: 'We view the expertise, capabilities, and resources of our allies and partners as 'force multipliers' for strengthening deterrence.'
