WELLINGTON, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Building relations between the armed forces of New Zealand and China will be a priority for the newly appointed commander of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF).
Commander of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating, who took up his post in January, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the NZDF also wanted to look at "proactive areas" for cooperation with China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the Pacific.
Keating said the New Zealand-China defense relationship had strengthened over the last 10 years "on the back of open and frank dialogue and the shared interest of a prosperous, integrated and stable Asia-Pacific region."
In an e-mail interview given as forces from the two countries continued to help in the multinational search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Keating said China was an important strategic and bilateral partner and the two military forces had worked together for the betterment of the Pacific.
"Strengthening ties between the NZDF and the PLA on a bilateral basis and in regional settings remains a priority for New Zealand, " Keating said.
"We want to look at the proactive areas where the NZDF and the PLA could cooperate in the South Pacific. This includes areas such as medical support and engineering works as well as disaster relief. These are areas where we already cooperate with other nations and we would welcome also working alongside the PLA."
Both New Zealand and China recognized the importance of expanding operational and tactical level cooperation to enhance trust and understanding amongst junior and mid-level officers, and this would be a key feature of future engagement.
"We are keen to focus our engagement on areas where there is mutual interest, including in areas such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peace support operations, and counter-piracy," he said.
"Educational exchanges and enhanced policy dialogues will also be an increasingly important strand of our future engagement with the PLA."
In August last year, the NZDF hosted Australian, U.S. and Chinese military personnel for Exercise Phoenix Spirit, a humanitarian disaster relief planning exercise, which had highlighted an important field of cooperation between China and New Zealand, he said.
"Exercise Phoenix Spirit was a success and we are already looking forward to it being held again," said Keating.
"Chinese, U.S. and Australian divers also successfully participated in a 14-nation disaster response exercise held recently off the coast of Auckland. Exercises such as these help us work together during real disasters and humanitarian response missions in the Pacific. This is a key shared interest of both New Zealand and China," he said.
Exchange visits by vessels last year also demonstrated a warm relationship between the two navies, which has developed over a long period.
HMNZS Te Mana had visited Hong Kong and Shanghai in May last year and this was reciprocated with a three-ship PLA Navy goodwill task force visit to Auckland in October.
"A small number of New Zealand sailors have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to ship-ride on PLA Navy vessels, while PLA divers recently stayed on HMNZS Canterbury during the recent exercise in Auckland," said Keating.
"There are also opportunities for our navies to come together in regional maritime activities. New Zealand and China will participate in the U.S.-led RIMPAC Exercise later this year. The ASEAN-Plus Defense Ministers Meeting provides another forum where our navies undertake joint exercises and other engagements."
Keating, who has 32 years of military experience, will have a three-year term as commander of Defence Force.
He joined the army in 1982 and was deployed to Afghanistan as commander of the Bamyan Provincial Reconstruction Team in 2005, and he holds a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, Pennsylvania.
