Christopher Luxon promised to bring a renewed energy to New Zealand’s relationships in South East Asia as he launched his first major overseas trade trip as Prime Minister this week.
But even before he’d landed in Singapore — the vital gateway to 650 million consumers, as he put it — Luxon was being asked to comment on Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel.
And the New Zealand Government’s position on Iran’s attack is clear — it strongly condemns it.
“What we’ve seen is an Iranian strike, which is unprecedented from Iranian soil onto Israeli soil,” Luxon told reporters in Singapore today.
“And that is something that we just don’t want to see — any escalation in the region.”
Iran launched the attack in retaliation for Israel bombing its embassy in Damascus and the New Zealand Government was a lot less outspoken on that.
When asked whether her felt Israel had provoked Iran by blowing up their embassy, he replied, “I’m not getting into that”.
When pushed on whether New Zealand should have also condemned the embassy attack, the Prime Minister stuck to his line that New Zealand wants to see the situation “de-escalate”.
At his joint press conference Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong summed up the situation by pointing out there probably wasn’t too much countries such as ours could do about it.
“I think it is a very troubled world,” Lee said. “We can’t solve the problems in the Middle East. They can only be managed.”
But there was progress on the trade front, with the prime ministers announcing they had agreed to “elevate the relationship”.
They were looking to build on the Singapore-New Zealand Enhanced Partnership that was signed in 2019, by streamlining supply chains between our countries particularly to ensure that goods could move seamlessly during emergencies, such as during the pandemic when Singapore sent New Zealand medical supplies while sending food in return.
Singapore was planning a delegation focused on its food security to New Zealand later this year.
Luxon said the Singaporean military’s live-fire exercises in New Zealand would resume next year and he wouldn’t rule out allowing Singapore to train to fly military drones in our airspace.
Supply chain added to partnership priorities
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he was “very happy” Luxon chose Singapore as his second overseas visit.
He also confirmed the two countries would add a sixth pillar to the New Zealand-Singapore Enhanced Partnership.
The first four pillars were trade and economics; security and defence; science, technology and innovation; and people-to-people links.
In 2022, the partnership added its fifth pillar, climate change and the green economy.
Today, Lee confirmed the sixth pillar would focus on supply chains and connectivity.
He said the new pillar would keep New Zealand and Singapore’s supply chains connected in a “volatile global environment”.
“As small states, New Zealand and Singapore understand the deep importance of maintaining supply chains and connectivity, especially in times of crisis.”
Additionally, Lee said he was happy Luxon brought a big business delegation to explore further economic opportunities.
“I understand they are having a gala dinner this evening and I am sure, over the wine and the food, many new business opportunities will pop up.”
Immediately following the Luxon visit, Lee announced he was stepping down as Singaporean Prime Minister, with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong taking over on May 15.