Nanaia Mahuta, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, has set the cat among the pigeons in the Five Eyes group. They want to scratch her eyes out over this.
She borrowed the title of a book by Manying Ip from 2009 called “The Dragon and the Taniwha” and wove it into her foreign policy. Neil Kinnock, the British Labour leader, used to do the same with his speeches until it was pointed out to him and he lost the election.
According to Andrew Bolt of Sky News, Mahuta thinks the Dragon and the Taniwha should get along because they are both mythological creatures. Is that a basis for your foreign policy, especially when the Dragon is the bully of the Pacific?
The Taniwha is a mythical water creature that accompanied the Wakas from Hawaiiki to the “Land of the Long White Cloud” but the Taniwha has been treated as a real creature in the New Zealand courts.
Mahuta has said that she is “uncomfortable” about making diplomatic comments about China within Five Eyes. This view might have been brought about because of a new free trade agreement with China. Nigel Farage has said that we have “sold our soul to China” and bemoaned losing one of our oldest and closest allies.
The “Global Times”, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party is running with the idea that NZ might leave the Five Eyes altogether. New Zealand has become a patsy of China and a wedge against the West, splitting the democracies. Australian commentator Andrew Bolt has blasted New Zealand for its “woke mystic babble”.
ANZAC day will never be the same if we side with China and either leave or get kicked out of Five Eyes, or are there on sufferance. Good timing, Mahuta!
The Telegraph in Britain is reporting that Five Eyes has become Four. The Times has called us “spineless” and shared a piece on Twitter from Alexander Downer who referred to “Four Eyes and a wink”. A wink usually signals prior knowledge or a betrayal, or an understanding, so that would fit. The ACT party here in New Zealand has said, our international reputation is damaged.
Do you remember the British television presenter Anne Robinson? She was a stern headmistress who would say to her failed contestants, “You are the weakest link.” It was a bit like Donald Trump telling a contestant on his show, “You’re fired!” It was a full public humiliation. New Zealand could be in for the same.
As expected, all hell has broken loose since Winston Peters left Foreign Affairs. Now we have to bow to the wishes of the Taniwha in running our country. As embodied in the excellent Jack Body cartoon in the NZ Herald, Mahuta has given “two fingers” to Five Eyes. Emerson’s cartoon was excellent as well, where the only Five Eyes soldier in the trenches to have Peking Duck is Ardern, the rest of them having bully-beef. And see The BFD‘s cartoon today at 11 am by SonovaMin on the same topic.
Marise Payne, who is visiting New Zealand doing a patch-up job, is well named as Australia’s Foreign Minister. Our Ocker buddies have felt the pain of China’s tariffs over their WHO comments. We have been accused by Australia of not doing the “heavy lifting”. Ouch! Just as well the Aussies have got a few minerals to back themselves up with so the Chinese can’t diss them completely. What have we got?
When Tova O’Brien on “The Nation” mentioned the plight of the Uighurs and the genocide of the Armenians, Mahuta seemed to imply that Tova could not possibly appreciate “indigenous suffering” as she had never experienced it. What? Just look at Irish history. Mahuta wanted to “right historical wrongs” as they applied to Maori, but she said “nah” in the case of the Uighurs and Armenians, especially if it was under the Five Eyes umbrella.
This is definitely a ‘one eyed’ approach by Mahuta.
In case this is Haere Ra to our Five Eyes partners I would like to bring the poem of Robbie Burns to mind.
Auld Lang Syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind,
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld Lang syne.
For auld Lang syne my dear,
For auld Lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
For the days of auld Lang syne.
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