Jacinda Ardern

The New Zealand PM has announced her resignation, but her impact on the country’s diplomacy will continue to resonate.

"I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice," she said. "It is that simple."

New Zealand’s independent foreign policy is back. That’s a key underlying message from Jacinda Ardern’s trip this week to Southeast Asia.

Since becoming New Zealand’s prime minister, she has not attended a U.N. climate change conference, or visited the Middle East. She could do both by traveling to Egypt later this month.

The Russia-Ukraine War was a major dividing line at the U.N. General Assembly, and Ardern largely spoke with those of a similar mindset.

Is New Zealand suddenly softening its more pro-Western foreign policy – and its tougher line on China?

The New Zealand prime minister's visit to Japan was a strategic move to reconnect with a close partner to deal with expanding security issues in the Indo-Pacific region. 

While New Zealand is increasingly backing the West, the West is not fully backing New Zealand where it counts most: providing trade alternatives to China.

Prioritizing the NATO meeting over the Commonwealth highlights the changes underway in New Zealand's foreign policy.

Nanaia Mahuta, New Zealand’s foreign minister, has come under increasing pressure as the geopolitical “Great Game” escalates in the Pacific.

Biden’s meetings in South Korea and Japan – along with a change of government in nearby Australia – will set the scene for the New Zealand PM’s trip to the United States.