Mr Powles, of Wellington, a retired former New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji, and former ambassador to China, Indonesia and the United Nations, was commenting yesterday during a talk at the University of Otago's latest annual Foreign Policy School, which was devoted to ''Pacific Geopolitics''.
Throughout most of its history, New Zealand had relied for both ''its security and its prosperity'' on its relations with Western powers, he said.
Although our main security partners continued to be Western, China had become our biggest trading partner.
''Having a security foot in one camp and an economic foot in another has the potential to be both difficult and painful,'' he warned.
Rivalry between China and the US had ''shown signs of intensifying'' in recent years, and maintaining and promoting our interests would be ''increasingly demanding''.
But New Zealand must not become ''so dazzled by the new geopolitical challenges'' that it forgot ''our ongoing neighbourhood responsibilities'' and the crucial importance of ''paying attention to Pacific Island wishes and concerns''.
Such concerns included depopulation challenges facing some small island countries and territories, given extensive migrations to New Zealand and the US.
One of the school directors, Associate Prof Jenny Bryant-Tokalau, of Otago University, said discussions at the school had been positive and constructive.
About 140 people had registered to attend the three-day gathering at St Margaret's College, which ended yesterday.
