New Zealand Backs ASEAN's Resolve For Nuclear-Free Region Amid Rising Global Tensions

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KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 -- New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters attends the 15th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in conjunction with the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) and related meetings at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Friday. -- fotoBERNAMA (2025) COPYRIGHT RESERVED
By Wan Muhammad Aslah Wan Razali
KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 (Bernama) -- New Zealand has voiced firm support for ASEAN's continuous efforts to keep the region free of nuclear weapons, describing the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Treaty as a vital pillar of regional peace and security.
Its Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the treaty, which came into effect in 1997, is 'a tangible demonstration of ASEAN's deep-rooted wish' to prevent nuclear escalation, especially as nuclear-armed states continue to modernise and expand their arsenals amid growing global tensions.
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'We are a State Party to the Treaty of Rarotonga, which established the South Pacific nuclear-free zone.
'We also support other nuclear weapon-free zones and their importance in contributing to regional peace and security,' he said in a written response to Bernama on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) and Related Meetings.
Peters said New Zealand views SEANWFZ as part of a broader network of nuclear weapon-free zones across the southern hemisphere, including in Latin America, Africa, and the South Pacific.
He stressed the importance of these zones in reinforcing global disarmament norms, especially at a time when strategic uncertainties are intensifying.
'It's even more critical that, as fellow members of nuclear weapon-free zone treaties, we continue to support each other in upholding their principles.
'It's also important that we continue to cooperate in support of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which both our countries have joined,' he said.