Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and India PM Narendra Modi wave at media ahead of their bilateral meeting. Photo / Interest.co.nz. 18/3/25
This week, New Zealand’s highest-ranking politicians are walking a tricky diplomatic tightrope.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been courting his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to kickstart trade deal discussions – but their meeting took a twist when Modi raised concerns about ‘anti-Indian activity’ in New Zealand.
“We have shared our concerns about anti-India activities by some illegal elements in New Zealand.
“We are confident that we will continue to receive the support of the New Zealand government in taking action against these illegal elements,” he said.
University of Waikato professor Alexander Gillespie told The Front Page it’s a difficult area for Luxon to navigate.
" The first point is that when Modi mentioned illegal elements, he was talking about illegal in terms of India, not illegal in terms of New Zealand.
“The problem of Sikh separatism and its link to violence and terror historically has been very strong and there have been a number of atrocious acts and reprisals against these communities over time.
“The way India has responded is that it’s designated a number of these groups associated with separatism as terrorist organisations. New Zealand and other countries haven’t responded in the same way.
“The question will be whether there is pressure put upon the government to designate, the separatists, Sikh separatists as terror groups,” he said.
Gillespie said Luxon’s reinforcement of New Zealand’s commitment to endorsing legal free speech might suggest a potential issue.
" Because some of these communities seeking separatism hold fake referendums or they have advocacy, which can be quite confrontational to India.
“And the question will be whether New Zealand does more to control these groups. It’s hard for us because we value freedom of speech and dissent.
“We allow diaspora communities to speak freely without fear of repercussion from the original countries. We see this with communities from China, Russia and Iran, whereby they are allowed to speak with the freedoms that New Zealand gives,” he said.
At the same time Luxon’s wooing India, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Washington for his first face-to-face talks with the second Trump administration.
He told media he was “seriously pleased with the outcome” of his first in-person meeting with American counterpart Marco Rubio - but gave little away in terms of detail of the meeting.
Peters would have gone to the US to secure New Zealand an exemption from agricultural tariffs Donald Trump has promised will kick in from April 2.
“What will happen and what has been happening is that we have tried exceptionally hard not to offend Trump or his regime,” Gillespie said.
“This means that when things have been difficult or some of Trump’s suggestions have been problematic for New Zealand in terms of what we believe is a rule-based order, we haven’t been critical, unlike other countries.
“When [Phil] Goff, our highest diplomat in Britain, made some undiplomatic comments - he was removed from his post. And so our approach so far has been not to upset Trump even though he may be doing things which are not in our interest.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about how New Zealand is faring with its global relationships.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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