The tension between NZ and China over Huawei's involvement in the 5G network is the latest example of NZ having to deal a world power. As a small nation, NZ has been facing these kinds of challenges since 1642.
A file photo of the Rainbow Warrior dated August 14, 1985. Photo: AFP
Historian Grant Morris has been looking at our latest battle with China and placing it in a historical context of other scraps with powerful nations.
Morris says a “powerful nation” doesn’t have to be a super power, he broadly describes the ones he’s chosen as former empires and nations which hold sway on a global stage such as permanent members of the UN Security Council and major economies.
He begins in 1642 with Abel Tasman who represented the Dutch East India Company and, by extension, the Dutch empire.
“From a New Zealand perspective, it was an unhappy encounter. There was conflict, there were deaths. Tasman sailed off without even setting foot in New Zealand, but it’s arguably the first example of New Zealand standing up for itself against a major power, especially if we look at it from a Māori perspective. It was a short one, but it was an example of asserting mana and asserting authority against this new influence.”
The second encounter was with James Cook in 1769.
“This was the second time Māori had to deal with a major European power and this time it’s the most powerful empire in the world, the British empire.
“Māori were able to deal with the British empire largely on their own terms until around the 1830s which is quite a lengthy period of time where the number of Europeans in New Zealand were very small and insignificant compared to the numbers of Māori."
Morris says that even with the devastating impact of disease on the Māori population, they were able, to some extent, dictate the terms of their relationship to the British and often use it to their advantage.
“But, of course, once we get the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi leading into the New Zealand wars, the nature of that relationship changes significantly.”
He says it gets complicated here because many settlers who fought in the wars would have identified themselves as New Zealanders.
“When we talk about Britain and our conflicts with Britain, it becomes very confusing. You could see it as an internal matter if you see New Zealand as a colony.”
Perhaps the most well-known and clearest example is when New Zealand stood up to France.
“It’s not surprising it’s France because, of course, has been the historical enemy of Britain and England for so long. We’ve been having scraps with France from day one.”
He gives the examples of early French explorers having conflict with Māori through to the influence of the French Catholic Church. But it was French nuclear power that caused the most controversial and notorious scraps in New Zealand.
Firstly, Prime Minister Norman Kirk took a public stance against French nuclear weapon testing in the Pacific in the 1970s and 1980s.
“Linked to that, and in many ways the culmination of that, was the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985 which has to be the most major provocation against us by a major power.
“We tried to stand up to France. The New Zealand Police did an amazing job in terms of capturing and arresting those responsible. We tried to enforce justice but it was ultimately circumvented by the French Government. The spies were taken off to a Pacific island and then they were pretty soon taken off back to France."
He says the French government put huge pressure on New Zealand both economically and diplomatically.
“We did our best, but there’s a limit to how much a small nation can stand up to a major power.”
Morris says this is a theme that emerges in New Zealand history.
“If we go back to our earlier examples, Māori were standing up against the biggest empire in the world and you could argue there was only ever going to be one result. We can celebrate standing up against major powers, but the actual response or effect is not always a successful one.”
Morris says the examples of New Zealand standing up to Japan and Germany in the two world wars are complicated because New Zealand fought as a proxy of Britain and it could also be an example of New Zealand giving in to major powers.
“In World War One, there’s a very strong argument to say that New Zealand was just swept along by Britain into a fight that had little to nothing to do with New Zealand. World War Two is a different one, where I think you can make an argument that New Zealand was independently saying this is the right thing to do.”
He says our fights with the Soviet Union, Korea, Vietnam and so one fit into the category of fighting as proxy for the United States and other interests.
“We do have an independent foreign policy, but it’s always connected with the global world and also with other powers. It’s very hard to say New Zealand does it alone.”
