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Speaker 1: So the New Zealand Defense Force is monitoring activity by

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Speaker 1: a Chinese naval task force. They are about one hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty no toical miles from the coast of Sydney.

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Speaker 1: We're watching them. Should we be worried? So, Foreign policy

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Speaker 1: analyst Jeffrey Miller joins me now and goodboding to you.

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Speaker 2: Jeffrey, Good morning Andrew.

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Speaker 1: What are they up to?

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Speaker 2: Well, they're conducting a routine patrol, you might say, which

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Speaker 2: is what New Zealand also did in the Taiwan Straight

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Speaker 2: last September when the hmnzs out or sales through there.

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Speaker 2: So I think it is a sign of heightened tensions.

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Speaker 2: It is something that hasn't happened before. It is significant.

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Speaker 2: Two hundred and seventy eight kilometers off the coast of

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Speaker 2: Sydney there is where those ships were reportedly where they

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Speaker 2: reportedly were around twenty four hours ago. So it is significant.

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Speaker 2: But I think we need to be careful of not

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Speaker 2: We need to be careful not to overreact to all

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Speaker 2: of this as well as the Australian Defense Minister, yes,

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Speaker 2: say Richard Miles said, you know, they're fully entitled to

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Speaker 2: be there directing in imcordance with international law. They're not

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Speaker 2: in Australian territorial waters, and I think we just need

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Speaker 2: to calm down a little bit.

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Speaker 1: Yes, will the Chinese know the rules? And of course

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Speaker 1: you've got to remember that the commander of the US

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Speaker 1: Indo Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Paparo, happens to be in

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Speaker 1: Australia right now and he's meeting the Australia Chief of

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Speaker 1: Joint Operations in Canberra, so you know that's happening there.

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Speaker 1: So there's a bit of saber rattling happening out in

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Speaker 1: the sea.

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Speaker 2: Yes, there's a lot going on. I mean, I don't

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Speaker 2: think it's probably a direct response to that you don't

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Speaker 2: sail down a frigate at a moment's notice. That takes

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Speaker 2: time to plan. These things does coincide though, with the

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Speaker 2: beginning of the new Trump administration, But I think there

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Speaker 2: are some really concerning developments. While we've all been fixated

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Speaker 2: on what's happening in Washington with Trump's statements, we've had

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Speaker 2: several close calls in the South China Sea, including involving

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Speaker 2: an Australian aircraft just quite recently around ten days ago,

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Speaker 2: and there was another one with the Philippines aircraft and

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Speaker 2: a Chinese helicopter just a couple of days ago. The

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Speaker 2: US tested an intercontinental list missile into the Pacific this week,

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Speaker 2: reciprocating a Chinese test last year. You know, things are

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Speaker 2: not getting any better than the Indo Pacific in terms

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Speaker 2: of the tensions. I think it's imperatives that New Zealand

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Speaker 2: continue to uphold dialogue. Winston Peters is on his way

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Speaker 2: to China in the next ten days or so and

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Speaker 2: where we will meet with his counterpart one year. I

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Speaker 2: think it's really really important that he sits down in

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Speaker 2: that they have a fallen, frank and productive discussion on

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Speaker 2: all of all these matters. Because when you add and

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Speaker 2: also what's been happening with New Zealand's position on the

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Speaker 2: Clock Islands, I think this will be being watched in Beijing,

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Speaker 2: and perhaps New Zealands decided to come out with a

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Speaker 2: more aggressive posturing towards China this year. Perhaps it's to

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Speaker 2: make the case more for greater defense spending. Remember we're

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Speaker 2: still waiting on the Defense Capability Plan that's coming out

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Speaker 2: in the coming months, and defense spending is going to

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Speaker 2: go up to probably close to two percent of GDP.

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Speaker 1: What an excellent answer to jeff I have to say,

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Speaker 1: you just answered three questions that I was going to

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Speaker 1: answer I ask you in one answer. So I thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for your time. That is Jeffrey Miller,

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Speaker 1: foreign Policy Expert.

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