The New Zealand Government has announced that it has appointed Stuart Kalman, Deputy Head of Mission for the Embassy in Beijing, as the new ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“Aotearoa New Zealand and ASEAN share a strong legacy of working together to promote peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” said New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Muffta. Aotearoa is the name of Maori in New Zealand.
“We have long supported ASEAN and ASEAN-centric architectures, which have played a vital role in the long-term stability and growth of the region.
“Last year’s visit to Jakarta allowed us to expand this partnership through a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Lim Jock Hoi and the Permanent Representative of ASEAN, where recovery from COVID-19, climate change and regional resilience. “Mafta said In release..
Western democracies, including Australia, the United States, and New Zealand’s allies, have sought to strengthen economic and security cooperation with Southeast Asia through ASEAN to build a united front with China in the Indo-Pacific. I did.
Southeast Asia has become a strategic battlefield between the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China. China’s communist government claims most of the South China Sea. The South China Sea is an important trade route connecting the region, putting military and political pressure on autonomous Taiwan, which Beijing considers to be its home country.
In December 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Brinken and Malaysia on their first trip to Southeast Asia to pursue President Biden’s goal of raising engagement with ASEAN to an “unprecedented” level in the face of Beijing’s war. I visited Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, with Thailand.
Kalman will take office in April after having previously played a role in Canberra’s New Zealand High Commission and the Australian Division of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
He has also served as Deputy Secretariat, Special Advisor to the Pacific Development Group, and has held several managerial positions at the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of the Environment, and MFAT.
The State’s Foreign Minister emphasizes the importance of maintaining and growing New Zealand’s diplomatic relations and the role that the partnership with ASEAN plays in it, and hopes that Kalman’s appointment will facilitate those relations. ..
“We look forward to Aotearoa New Zealand and ASEAN continuing to play a key role in addressing the range of geopolitical, health and economic challenges facing our region,” said Muffta. ..
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Caden Pearson is a writer and editor based in Cairns, Australia. He mainly writes about national affairs, Indo-Pacific geopolitics, and COVID-19 measures and pushbacks. He has a background in screenwriting and documentary. Contact him at [email protected]