6 May 2021

Hard decisions coming for NZ on China - Australia stoush - expert

From Morning Report, 6:43 am on 6 May 2021

A leading defence analyst says there may be some hard decisions coming up for New Zealand, as relations between Australia and China deteriorate.

Australia's new Defence Minister Peter Dutton recently said the possibility of conflict with China over Taiwan should not be "discounted", as Australia confirmed a $747 million upgrade to defence facilities in the Northern Territory.

China in turn urged Australia to recognise it's a highly sensitive matter and to avoid sending any wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces.

Paul Buchanan told Political Editor, Jane Patterson, it's a high stakes situation.