By Lucy Craymer
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand said on Tuesday that “China remains a complex intelligence concern” in New Zealand, but there are other states that undertake malicious activity in the country.
“A small number of illiberal foreign states engage in foreign interference against New Zealand as a tool for advancing their interests abroad,” the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) said in its yearly report into the country’s threat environment.
It noted it can be difficult to draw conclusive links between the interference activity and the foreign state.
“New Zealand is not alone in facing the threat of foreign interference. It is a challenge, countries face globally, including in our region, as illiberal states try to take advantage of others’ size or openness,” it said.
The report, titled “New Zealand’s Security Threat Environment”, is released as part of a government shift to better inform New Zealanders about risks the country is facing, and comes as the government grapples with how to respond to a more complicated geopolitical environment.
Director-General of Security Andrew Hampton said the assessment is about being as upfront as we can about the reality of national security threats but not to alarm anyone.
The report added that strategic competition in the Indo- Pacific has for the past decade or so been largely framed as being between China and New Zealand and its traditional security partners but more recently it is becoming one where there are several centres of power and influence and include a range of countries including those with which New Zealand is growing its relationships such as India or those in Southeast Asia.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.