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What will FBI's new office in New Zealand do? Kash Patel's suggestion leaves China fuming
FBI Director Kash Patel's remarks on the opening of the US agency's new office in New Zealand has drawn ire from China. (Photo: AP)
FBI Director Kash Patel has provoked diplomatic discomfort in New Zealand and a sense of unease in China, which is looking to dominate waters in South Pacific, including the Tasman Sea, with the suggestion that the new mission's aim was to counter Chinese influence in the region.
Patel's suggestion drew polite dismissals from New Zealand and ire from China. Patel was in Wellington on Thursday to open the FBI's first standalone office in New Zealand and to meet senior officials.
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The arrangement aligns New Zealand with FBI missions in other Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations, which also include the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
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What FBI will do in New Zealand?
Speaking about the new office, the FBI chief, in remarks made in a video released on Thursday by the US Embassy, said the New Zealand branch would help counter Chinese Communist Party's influence in the contested South Pacific Ocean.
The Wellington office will provide a local mission for FBI staff, who have operated with oversight from Australia since 2017.
Interestingly, New Zealand ministers who met Patel, the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit New Zealand, looked quite uncomfortable with the FBI director's suggestion, and quietly dismissed his claims.
What New Zealand said on FBI's new office, and China?
The New Zealand government issued a statement on Thursday, emphasising joint efforts against crimes such as online child exploitation and drug smuggling. It did not mention anything about China, whose naval drills in recent times have raised security concerns in New Zealand.
'When we were talking, we never raised that issue,' Foreign Minister Winston said Thursday.
Judith Collins, minister for the security services, said the focus would be on transnational crime.
'I don't respond to other people's press releases,' she said when reporters noted Patel had mentioned China, Radio New Zealand reported.
Trade Minister Todd McClay rejected a reporter's suggestion on Friday that Wellington had 'celebrated' the office opening.
'Well, I don't think it was celebrated yesterday,' he said. 'I think there was an announcement and it was discussed.'
A sharp response from China to Patel
At a briefing Friday, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun denounced Patel's remarks. 'China believes that cooperation between countries should not target any third party,' he said.
'Seeking so-called absolute security through forming small groupings under the banner of countering China does not help keep the Asia Pacific and the world at large peaceful and stable.'
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New Zealand, the smallest Five Eyes partner, has faced ongoing pressure to align with U.S. stances on China, its largest trading partner, while carefully balancing relations with Beijing. Analysts said the FBI chief's comments could vex those efforts, although New Zealand has faced such challenges before.
'It's in New Zealand's interest to have more law enforcement activities to deal with our shared problems,' said Jason Young, associate professor of international relations at Victoria University of Wellington.
'It's perhaps not in New Zealand's interest to say we're doing this to compete with China.'
US-China tussle in Trump's second presidency
Patel's visit came as the Trump administration has sought to raise global alarm about Beijing's designs. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in June said China posed an imminent threat and urged Indo-Pacific countries to increase military spending to five per cent of GDP.
New Zealand has traditionally avoided singling out individual countries when discussing regional tensions, Young said.
'I'm sure the US would like New Zealand to speak more forthrightly and characterize the China challenge in a similar way to the United States,' Young said.
New Zealand, a country of 5 million people, was once assumed by larger powers to be of little strategic importance. But its location and influence in the contested South Pacific Ocean, where Beijing has sought to woo smaller island nations over the past decade, has increased its appeal to countries like the US.
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Peters, the foreign minister, told The Associated Press in 2024 that U.S. neglect of the region until recent years had in part been responsible for China's burgeoning influence there. He urged US officials to 'please get engaged and try to turn up.'
Not everyone welcomed the expanded FBI presence
Online, the new office drew rancor from New Zealanders who posted thousands of overwhelmingly negative comments about the announcement on social media sites. A weekend protest against the opening was planned.
Young said it was unlikely people posting in anger took issue with cross-border law enforcement efforts in general.
'I think it would be more a reflection of some of the deep unease that many people in New Zealand see with some of the political choices that are being made in America at the moment,' he said.
(With agency inputs)
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