New Zealand’s strategic objectives in a contested Asia

Since the early 1970s, the peace and stability of the Asian region has been underwritten by the simple but enormously important fact that US primacy has been uncontested by any other Asian power. That has sharply limited the risk of a major regional conflict which could have profoundly affected our nations’ well-being, which in turn has limited the kinds of wars our militaries have had to be prepared to fight. Now that is no longer true: while far from inevitable, the risk of a US-China conflict with devastating consequences for both countries is far higher today than it has been at any time since 1972, and on current trends it is likely to keep rising.&nbsp