Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: PM Ardern at a series of international summits this week, Pike River plan revealed, and NZ to host the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup. PM Jacinda Ardern will be walking a series of fine lines at international summits over the rest of the week. She’s currently in … Read more
Michael Field, whose book The Catch helped expose the labour and human rights abuses in New Zealand’s fishing industry, discusses his new investigation into illegal fishing practices in the Pacific. Journalist Michael Field has been writing about the Pacific for three decades. More recently, his investigations have led him into a dark world of foreign-flagged … Read more
The ruling from the Hague on the South China Sea is stunning. For the region the stakes are huge, and New Zealand’s response is notably more cautious than Australia or the US, writes David Capie. Last night’s decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague delivered a resounding legal defeat to China’s maritime … Read more
With an increased emphasis on our immediate neighbourhood and non-traditional defence activities, the White Paper strikes a refreshing balance, writes the Centre for Strategic Studies’ David Capie The immediate media response to the 2016 Defence White Paper suggests we are all vulnerable to being mesmerised by high-tech toys. Even before the paper was officially launched … Read more
The NZ PM has been welcomed to Beijing with a commentary at the state news agency (nb See update at foot of article) cautioning such an ‘absolute outsider’ against raising the South China Sea dispute, suggesting to do so would imperil trade relations. It doesn’t come completely out of the blue, explains Asia-Pacific expert David … Read more