New Zealand High Commissioner delivers speech at SOAS
20 February 2013
Rob Taylor, the Acting New Zealand High Commissioner to the UK, delivered a speech on the renewed strategic partnership between New Zealand and the United States last week at SOAS, University of London
Presented by the Pacific Islands Society at SOAS, it was the first event in the inaugural Pacific ambassador series SOAS, University of London. The speech entitled New Zealand – United States: An Asia-Pacific Partnership, argued that shared values, not just shared interests, are driving renewed cooperation across a host of traditional and non-traditional security issues, including climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, and disaster response.
More than 40 University of London students, academic staff and invited guests attended the event. At the end of his speech, the High Commissioner responded to all questions raised by the audience, including what he saw New Zealand’s role to be in the emerging conflicts in the South and East China Seas and whether he thought the renewed NZ-US partnership would help or hinder his country’s efforts to be a constructive third-party in resolving ongoing threats to peace and stability in the Asia. The evening concluded with a networking reception sponsored by the SOAS Alumni Association.
President of the Pacific Islands Society at SOAS Eddie Walsh said the event provided University of London students with a unique opportunity to engage international security in the broader Asia-Pacific: "The 21st Century has commonly been referred to as the Asian Century due to the projected dominance of Asian politics, economics, and culture. As one of the world's leading academic institutions for the study of Asia, SOAS is particularly well-suited for this changing geo-strategic reality. As the world's current dominant economic and military power - The United States - pivots toward Asia, the very question of the concept of "What constitutes Asia?" is becoming contested. It is in this context that the Asia-Pacific has re-emerged as an important object of analysis for regional specialists. We are therefore grateful that the New Zealand High Commissioner was willing to join us at SOAS."
The next event in the Pacific ambassador series at SOAS will be a talk by the High Commissioner of the Republic of Fiji to the United Kingdom, H.E. Solo Mara, on Tuesday, 5 March, at 7:15pm. The event will be held in room G3 in the SOAS Main Building. The event, as with others in the series, is free and open to the public. To attend as a guest, please RSVP soaspacsoc@gmail.com by 1 March.
