The FBI has opened a standalone office in New Zealand’s capital in part to improve the US’ and New Zealand’s ability to counter China’s presence in the Pacific region, FBI Director Kash Patel said yesterday.
Patel has spent the past few days in the capital, Wellington, meeting with senior government ministers, as well as intelligence bosses and law enforcement officials.
He said in a statement that opening a dedicated law enforcement attache office in the capital would strengthen and enhance Washington’s longstanding co-operation with one of its key partners in the southwestern Pacific.
Photo: Reuters
“Some of the most important global issues of our times are the ones that New Zealand and America work on together — countering the CCP [the Communist Party of China] in the INDOPACOM [US Indo-Pacific Command] theater, countering the narcotics trade, working together against cyberintrusions and ransomware operations and most importantly protecting our respective citizenry,” he said in a video released by the US embassy in Wellington.
The FBI has had a suboffice in New Zealand since 2017 and the two countries work closely on policing issues including child exploitation and organized crime.
New Zealand and the US have been working more closely together amid concerns about China’s increasing influence in the Pacific. They are both members of the intelligence-sharing partnership known as the “Five Eyes,” which also includes Australia, Canada and the UK.
“The FBI cannot do it alone,” Patel said. “Our partners in the Five Eyes are our greatest partners around the world, but we need all of them ... to get after the fight and put the mission first.”
New Zealand Minister of Defence Judith Collins and New Zealand Minister of Police Mark Mitchell said in a statement that they welcomed the new FBI office, which they said would enhance the safety and security of New Zealanders.
The office would also cover FBI partnerships in Antarctica, Samoa, Niue, the Cook Islands and Tonga, the US embassy said.
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