The government needs to reflect on its handling of Winston Peters, keeping in mind that Donald Trump will not be in power forever, Prof Robert Patman says. Dozens of complaints have been made to the Human Rights Commission following New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters telling Green Party Chinese-Kiwi MP Xu-Nan to go back to his “own country” — an outburst labelled racist by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon who did not demand a public apology because, he said, Mr Peters was speaking as leader of New Zealand First, not as Foreign Minister. But that will not wash with diplomats and political leaders worldwide and should trigger a government rethink of its foreign policy which seems aimed at appeasing United States president Donald Trump and is causing global reputational damage to New Zealand, University of Otago international relations specialist Prof Patman says. “What we’re seeing here is diplomatic incoherence and I think that’s going to have quite serious consequences for us in the world,” Prof Patman says. “We shouldn’t assume Mr Trump’s going to be in the White House forever.” Traditionally, New Zealand prided itself on its inclusive and diverse approach to democratic governance. But Mr Peters’ comments in Parliament last week seemed to fly in the face of that and would damage the country’s standing in the global community, Prof Patman told the Otago Daily Times’ Global Insight. Mr Peters has said he did not need to apologise because his conduct was justified given Xu-Nan's heckling during his speech in Parliament. Mr Patman said the Prime Minister’s handling of the situation did not reflect well on Luxon because, as head of the coalition government, the buck stopped with him for the country’s foreign policy. “A lot of international observers will be baffled by the fact that [Luxon] has detached himself from New Zealand foreign policy, effectively.” Support for the rule of law and multilateralism had been cornerstones of New Zealand’s foreign policy for more than 80 years but the government’s handling of this incident echoed its approach to the Trump administration, which deviated from that course, he said. “We’ve seen, through this episode involving Mr Peters, that this government is very much concerned with survival and that may explain why it’s taken a softly, softly approach and an approach of accommodation towards the Trump administration which is assaulting the core values of this country.” This week’s election of Dr Adbul El-Sayed as Democrat candidate for Michigan’s midterm Senate elections should add fuel to arguments for New Zealand’s government to reconsider its foreign policy approach, Prof Patman said. Dr El-Sayed was one of a stream of pro-left, anti-war candidates who have prevailed in primary elections, revealing a genuine conflict of ideas about the way forward for the US. “I think it highlights the dangers of the last two years, when we’ve very much linked our foreign policy to trying to please Mr Trump and accommodate him. “The danger is that policy alienates many Americans who do not agree with Mr Trump. “I think this is another indication we need to have a foreign policy reset.”
