Prime Minister Chirstopher Luxon. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will not join US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace.
In a brief statement on Friday morning, Luxon confirmed the government would not accept the invitation to join the board in its "current form", after considering the offer.
"The government has considered President Trump's invitation and has decided not to join the Board of Peace in its current form."
After advice came back from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Thursday morning, Luxon agreed with Foreign Minister Winston Peters' position to reject the invitation, and found after seeking ACT's view, all three parties were aligned.
Peters posted a longer message on social media where he said a number of states had already stepped up to the board and New Zealand would not add significant additional value.
He said there was a role for the board in Gaza, but it was essential that its work was consistent with the United Nations charter.
"As a leading founder and longstanding supporter of the United Nations, it is important that the Board's work is complementary to and consistent with the UN Charter. It is a new body, and we need clarity on this, and on other questions relating to its scope, now and in the future."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Luxon was being "too polite" about the invitation and "he should show some leadership".
"Not joining the Board of Peace is absolutely the right thing to do, it's preposterous Christopher Luxon would even consider it.
"The idea that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin can sit around a table and decide on one nation's peace while they wage their own wars is absurd."
After Luxon earlier said the government would give the invitation "due consideration," Hipkins condemned the delay, calling it an "absolute disgrace".
A draft charter for the organisation, which would be chaired by Trump, was sent to a number of world leaders - including Canada's Mark Carney, Australia's Anthony Albanese, Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Canada's invite was later withdrawn, and several Western nations including France, Germany, Spain, the UK, Sweden, Ireland and Italy declined the invitation - which also came with a $1 billion entry fee.
Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick had written to the Prime Minister on Monday, urging Luxon to "publicly and unequivocally reject this invitation".
Speaking to the government's decision on Friday, Swarbrick said it wasn't over.
"New Zealanders need to know the story doesn't end here. The prime minister is also flirting with Trump's request for our critical minerals to power his resource war with China.
"A Waitangi Tribunal claim this week has been lodged challenging exactly this - raising the point that if negotiations on minerals are already taking place, they are likely to be based on terms dictated by the United States. Just how much is Luxon going to allow us to be bullied and pushed around by Trump, when we could instead be investing in building our own resilience here at home?"
The board's creation comes shortly after the announcement of a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee, charged with managing the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza.
The US Embassy said the board was designed "to complement the United Nations, not replace it".
"Under the Charter, it is bound by international law and operates in alignment with UN mandates-as it has for Gaza. In practice, the Board helps unlock action when the UN process might hit obstacles and stall.
"International law provides for the creation of international organizations through the agreement among States. The Board is an example."
NZ 'should not be pulling its punches' with Trump - expert
International relations expert Robert Patman said sooner or later New Zealand would need to take a firmer stance with the US administration.
International relations expert Robert Patman. (File photo) Photo: Provided
"Mr Trump's vision of the world is a concert of great powers run by the United States. It's written down: the powers in question are the United States, China, Russia, Japan and India.
"That is the world that Mr Trump is working towards. New Zealand... can tone down its language and be supportive of the United States, but at some point New Zealand decision-makers have to robustly defend the interests of this country, and they do not coincide with those of the Trump administration."
He said New Zealand had tiptoed round when the US threatened liberal democracies under Trump.
"The softly-softly approach with the Trump administration that we've practiced for a year hasn't worked. It hasn't restrained the Trump administration and and he clearly doesn't share the New Zealand worldview of international relations being based on rules.
"I think it's high time that we do selectively... stand up for our values in the international arena."
He said it was not surprising the invitation had been declined, particularly given the lack of buy-in from other liberal democratic countries and the makeup of the board.
"It does not seem to include any Palestinian representation for a board of peace on Gaza, which seems to be an incredible anomaly. In addition, the brief of the board does not seem to include a commitment to the political right of self determination for the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza - again, an incredible omission for an organisation which is supposed to be pledged to bringing peace to Gaza."
He said the Board was part of the second phase of Trump's plan to secure peace in Gaza, but the first phase had not worked well.
"More than 400 Palestinians have been killed during phase one of the Gaza peace plan, so there's been no effective ceasefire, so it seems to me the US-led peace process, is encountering real problems."
There were questions to be asked too about where the money paid by the board's members would end up.
"Mr. Trump says he's going to be the permanent chair of that board and each member has to pay a billion dollars. Where does the money go? ... I understand it will go into an account in Qatar.
"I certainly think the decision not to get involved is wise."
Peters made comments recently aligning with Trump administration policies or decisions including on the World Health Organisation, and on the Federal Reserve.
New Zealand's position on Palestinian statehood was also out of step with many like-minded partners.
Patman said Peters would be well aware that his party's supporters were "probably pretty sympathetic to Mr Trump and his anti woke agenda, indeed Mr Peters uses that sort of language himself".
However, while domestic politics could be playing a part in the foreign minister's stance "to be fair to Mr. Peters, he has been quite tough at times".
"The UN Security Council - of which the US is the most powerful member - in April 2024, he said the UN Security Council had failed and he was quite right.
"I found it laughable when I heard Marco Rubio say the UN had made no contribution towards peace in Gaza, when it was the United States which exercised the veto six times during two years to prevent resolutions in the UN Security Council for a ceasefire being successful ... If the UN fails it's not because it's failed without US participation in that failure."
He thought Peters was probably being diplomatic and may be hoping that by encouraging the US with the initiative it would begin to also tackle things like the recognition of Palestinian right to self-determination.
However it was clear that with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he would never allow Palestinian statehood, Trump's plan seemed "flawed from the outset".
"Until there is a government in Israel which recognises the right of the Palestinians to self determination, it is difficult to see how the two-state solution can be achieved that the majority of countries in the world support."
Victoria University's Centre for Strategic Studies director David Capie said New Zealand joining the board was always a "real long shot".
"Pretty unusual membership ... a pretty unusual organisational structure with a President of the United States as its chair, potentially in perpetuity, hand-picked board of advisers set to run this institution that aren't particularly representative of the wider international community, you've got a group of countries that have expressed interest ... really a fairly shady lot."
He pushed back on Hipkins' claim that even considering the invitation was a "disgrace".
"I think in some ways, it's the polite thing to do when somebody makes a proposal like this ... if a huge number of European states, for some reason, Australia and others in Asia had expressed an interest in signing on ... New Zealand will probably, you know, think twice about being outside the tent."
However, he agreed with Patman that New Zealand needed to speak up more against threats to the international rules-based order.
"It's a really important balancing act to be struck here. On the one hand, there's no real point, I mean, in firing back incendiary comments or strong language, or feeling that we've got to respond to every event that happens in US, domestic politics or around the world.
"We also need to recognise that this administration is doing some things that are profoundly challenging to New Zealand's interests, and where that's the case we need to find a way to actually to talk about why it's in our interests."
He said he would have liked to see a faster, clearer response from the government after Trump's comments about NATO-led operations in Afghanistan, his threats against Greenland, ceding momentum to Russia in its negotiations with Ukraine, the importance of the World Health Organisation, and the sanctioning of International Criminal Court justices.
"It's not so much about firing back a zinger and making a personal response to President Trump or the administration, but it can also be framed as explaining why these are really important interests for New Zealand and why they should be for the US as well."
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