A 2023 Aukus press conference at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego California. Photo: Jim WATSON / AFP
Joining Aukus pillar two could be "key" to New Zealand's continued ability to work with its close allies, a new briefing shows.
The Government has said it was pushing ahead with discussions about the possibility of joining the security alliance with Australia, the US and the UK.
A briefing showed defence officials have been zeroing in on what joining might mean for law changes and the price of either joining, or staying out.
Just this week, an Aukus deal kicked in which eliminated most barriers to defence trade between the US, Australia and the UK, freeing up technology in exchange for the nuclear-powered submarines covered by Aukus Pillar One, and for Pillar Two's sharing of advanced military technology.
The briefing to the defence and foreign affairs ministers said there were some areas where New Zealand's participation in pillar two was "key to securing long-term interoperability with close defence partners".
But which areas was blanked out.
It added the Defence Ministry had identified overlaps between what New Zealand could offer and the advanced military technologies covered by pillar two (undersea tech, electronic warfare, quantum computing, advanced cyber and AI).
"Officials have also begun to identify parts of the New Zealand system which demonstrate potential to form part of a pillar two contribution."
The briefing was released on Tuesday but dated back to May when a pathway had just been outlined for countries, including New Zealand, to join Aukus for the second pillar.
It said the implications for local laws and regulations were being examined.
The five "foreign policy considerations" that joining would have were all blanked out.
As were a "series of factors which will dictate any New Zealand contribution, regardless of type or scale".
"The likely costs and expected contribution thresholds," were also being looked into.
And the Defence Ministry said it was talking to local industry and academics.
'Failing to join could be detrimental'
Former MPs and co-chairs of the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China, Louisa Wall and Simon O'Connor, have argued New Zealand stands to gain a deepened defence collaboration with key allies and economic gains.
Defence thinktank London's Royal United Services Institute recently noted the wide geopolitical implications of pillar two saying for allies, such as New Zealand, "failing to join pillar two could be detrimental".
Critics say joining up would align New Zealand too closely with US objectives in the Indo-Pacific which revolve around constraining China.
Japan and South Korea have been in talks with the Aukus triumvurate about joining pillar two since earlier in the year.
Aside from Aukus, the US has also made various recent moves to more closely integrate a dozen countries in the region, including New Zealand, into its own national military industrial base. New Zealand has been designated a part of the US National Technology Industrial Base, that exists to protect US national security interests.
