Diplomacy

Two books track an assertive China as it projects diplomatic and military power across the globe.

Last week a comically overwrought ad for Australia’s 60 Minutes TV show hit headlines here, promoting an item suggesting ‘New Xi-land’ had gone soft in China. It aired across the ditch on TV this… Audio

Europe correspondent Seamus Kearney joins Kathryn to talk about fears of an escalation in conflict between Russia and Ukraine, major political groups in the European Parliament demanding an… Audio

The Australian media’s last news journalists in China quit the country in a hurry this week. For the first time in nearly 50 years there’s no-one from across the ditch covering this critical country -… Audio

Five New Zealand MPs travelled through Tonga and Fiji on a Speaker-led delegation. This is a six part series following the group to find out what they do and why 

Will the competition between China and the US inevitably lead to military conflict?

Jacinda Ardern - and her family - attracted plenty of attention at the UN in New York this week. She was even cast as the antidote to Trumpism by some. But did the media mistake exposure and… Video, Audio

Our nation's place in the world is explored by four experts in international relations: Professor Tony Ballantyne, Dr Marcelle Dawson and Professor Robert Patman from Otago University; along with… Audio

Those pictures of North Korean president Kim Jong-Un shaking hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in are some of the most powerful political images we've seen in decades. Al Gillespie, Professor… Audio

While a former US President’s visit preoccupied our media this week, the state visit of the current president of Indonesia - the world’s fourth most populous nation - went mostly under the radar… Video, Audio

Jonathan Sinclair has been the British High Commissioner to New Zealand since August 2014, and leaves the role this week; he'll eventually return to London. He joined the UK Foreign Office in 1996… Audio

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was winging her way to Australia on Sunday morning, where she was to meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. RNZ's political editor Jane Patterson previews… Audio

The European Union's Pacific Ambassador for the past four and a half years, Andrew Jacobs, is finishing up and returning to Brussels. Audio

Dunedin-born Gerald McGhie served for 40 years as a diplomat for New Zealand, including two postings in Moscow - during Brezhnev and the Cold War years, and later during the fall of Gorbachev, the… Audio