Back in 1984 New Zealand famously displayed its independent foreign policy, but then spent the next two decades rebuilding its links to our allies. In contrast, since 2016 New Zealand, like the rest of the western world, has been trying to manage its relations with the United States, even as the overall world situation has deteriorated. Uncertainty about the US has accelerated since President Trump was re-elected in 2024, and now in mid-2026 it is still uncertain whether this year’s US-Iran War can be brought to a genuine peace.

Other factors that are affecting the current world situation include the rise of China, its economic and military power, and its influence over nations from Africa to the South Pacific. Russia, of course, is a problem – engaged in open warfare against Ukraine, it is the subject of Western sanctions but has built a black economy through illicit economic relations with various other nations.

And in response to these pressures, the NATO nations and much of the West are building up their defence forces. This pressure is also affecting New Zealand. So where should our nation look for support – or who to support – in a world of growing tensions?

We are privileged to have Anna Fifield speak to us this month, when she will share her thoughts on how New Zealand could build resilience to better insulate ourselves from the next crises - because they will surely come - and why this will better enable us to speak up on the world stage for our values and our interests.

Anna Fifield is an independent New Zealand journalist and foreign policy analyst focused on Asia. She now writes a newsletter about New Zealand's place in the world, and undertakes various speaking engagements and news-media appearances.

Anna Fifield spent more than 20 years as a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post and The Financial Times, reporting from across Asia, the Middle East and the United States. For three years she was The Washington Post's Asia-Pacific editor, based in Beijing. There she researched and wrote a book about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, The Great Successor, which has since been translated into 24 languages.

Covid disrupted her career and on returning to Wellington she was appointed as the editor of The Dominion Post newspaper in Wellington between 2020 and 2022. Previously in her career she was a Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University, and subsequently won Stanford University’s Shorenstein Prize for excellence in reporting on Asia. She is now an independent writer and analyst; we are delighted that she is able to come to speak us in Wairarapa on the challenges now facing New Zealand.