Pacific Missiles, Zombie Candidates and Unpopular Anniversaries

Yeah, and it hasn't got a warhead in it.

There's a dummy warhead, but nonetheless, it's something that we need to be mindful of.

I mean, let's be perfectly frank, China is our biggest trading partner, and the growth since you and Helen Clark signed that agreement in 2008 has been none other, other than phenomenal, and Tim Groser was talking about it, uh, this afternoon.

So it's an incredibly important relationship, uh, and we're very friendly with the, uh, with the Chinese administration.

But nonetheless, I think, uh, the acting Australian prime minister, uh, put it very well when he expressed some concerns today and said, um, "We're very concerned about any actions that undermine the stability, peace, and security of the region, and Australia and New Zealand are totally committed to the Oceans of Peace declaration that was made by the Pacif- Pacific Islands Forum last year." Uh, and of course, what we all want to do, uh, in this, uh, neighborhood, uh, is, uh, maintain the peace and security of the Pacific.

So, uh, delicate diplomatic dance and no doubt the, uh, the, uh, Chinese ambassador, who I, incidentally, is one of the smartest people I think I've met in a long time, very smooth diplomat, that guy, uh, he'll be, uh, called in for a little chat, I imagine.

Uh, is that the way it goes?

Yeah.

Yeah, well, I, I imagine the foreign minister will be calling him in, and I hope he's not too delicate in the message that he gives to China because I think the message ought to be quite blunt.

We don't want any nuclear weapon state playing nuclear war games in the, the nuclear free South Pacific area that we signed up to under the Treaty of Rarotonga.

Uh, it, it's really unwelcome that any missile test is taking place, uh, which obviously enables China to show where its, uh, its reach can get to in the Pacific.

Uh, of course, it doesn't have a warhead on it [chuckles].

Um, it's a, it's a dummy warhead, but the message it's sending is, is quite the wrong message.

And frankly, look, I've had a bit of a guts full of all of the nuclear weapon states.

They promised under the Non-Proliferation Treaty that if, if the rest of the world didn't proliferate and develop their own nuclear weapons, uh, they would engage in disarmament.

Well, they're not doing that at the moment.

Uh, it looks like as China certainly is building up its nuclear weapons.

Uh, Putin is, uh, making these loud noises about if, uh, any Western country dare send troops into Ukraine, he'd use a nuclear weapon there.

And the United States, of course, uh, is also making the point, uh, that, uh...

Well, Trump made the point that, uh, he wanted-- he, he threatened to annihilate the, uh, the Persian, the Iranian civilization, and if that's not a, an indirect, uh, uh, threat to use a nuclear weapon, I don't know what it is.

So the message is, is pretty blunt and clear to all nuclear weapon states, and particularly China that's about to launch this test missile, uh, we don't want your war games in our part of the world.

Possibly they're brassed off with the Australians signing an agreement with the Fijians, uh, in the last day or so.

But I have to confess, uh, of the various matters that you've mentioned, the one that really is beginning to freak me out is the situation as between Ukraine and Russia, uh, with the bombing of, uh, St. Petersburg, which is one of my favorite cities, absolutely beautiful.

So I just hope they've left the, uh, the Winter Palace and the Alexander Column alone.

But, um, and some of the, uh, the warnings that have been, um- Indirectly stated by, uh, Putin that, um, may have to go further if this sort of thing continues.