New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said China’s increasingly assertive stance in the Pacific must be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.
“In the wake of the tensions we see rising, including in our Indo-Pacific region, diplomacy must become the strongest tool and de-escalation the loudest call,” Ardern said in a speech to the Lowy Institute Thursday in Sydney. “We won’t succeed, however, if those parties we seek to engage with are increasingly isolated and the region we inhabit becomes increasingly divided and polarized.”
