Venu Menon
Wellington, October 27,2023
New Zealand has aligned with its Five Eyes partners in slamming India for forcing Canada to downsize its diplomatic presence in New Delhi.
The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have jointly condemned India’s expulsion of 41 diplomats, along with their dependants, from the Canadian mission in New Delhi earlier this month, fanning the embers of a simmering feud between Ottawa and New Delhi over the extrajudicial killing of a Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil in June.
New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance (along with the US, UK, Australia and Canada), has been maintaining a studied silence on the bilateral tensions between India and Canada over the issue.
MFAT response
In an email response dated 27 September 2023 to queries from Indian Newslink, a New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokesperson quoted Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta as saying New Zealand was “aware of the ongoing Canadian investigation into the death of Mr Nijjar and [Canadian] Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau’s comments in Parliament last week, and that if those claims were proven to be true, it would be of serious concern.”
The MFAT spokesperson added that the minister “was also clear that it would not be appropriate to comment further on another country’s ongoing criminal investigation.”
MFAT confirmed that “officials have ensured Minister Mahuta’s 20 September comments have been conveyed to the Government of India.”
To a specific query from Indian Newslink whether the New Zealand government was privy to any evidence to back Canada’s claim that India had a hand in Nijjar’s killing, the MFAT spokesperson said: “In line with standard practice we do not comment on intelligence matters.”
New Zealand breaks silence
But the New Zealand government has now broken its silence following India’s expulsion of the Canadian diplomats last month.
In a Twitter post on October 25, MFAT expressed concern over India’s move, saying: “We are concerned India’s demand that Canada reduce its diplomatic presence there has led to the departure of a large number of Canadian diplomats from India. Now seems the time for more diplomacy, not less.”
A follow-up post the same day reads: “We expect all states to uphold their obligations under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, including in relation to the privileges and immunities of accredited staff.”
New Zealand is now aligning with the other Five Eyes members and, in doing so, is clearly taking sides in the row between Canada and India, precipitated by Nijjar’s death.
Vienna Convention
The fresh focus around the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, raised by Canadian PM Trudeau, is a nuance cited by New Zealand that only thinly masks its partisan stand on the core controversy generated by Nijjar’s death.
It is worth noting that Wellington has not sought to differentiate between Ottawa’s charge against New Delhi of contravening the Vienna Convention by ordering the expulsion of its diplomats, on the one hand, and India being complicit in Nijjar’s extrajudicial killing, on the other.
MFAT’s Twitter posts are cautiously worded and steer clear of any reference to Nijjar (ostensibly because of Canada’s ongoing criminal investigation into his murder).
But while this omission is no accident, Wellington’s alignment with Ottawa, around the expulsion of Canadian diplomats by India, will be perceived to extend to Nijjar’s death as well.
NZ-India relations
This may not sit well with New Zealand’s incoming PM Christopher Luxon’s avowed objective of prioritising New Zealand-India ties when he formally takes office in November.
By falling in line with Washington, London and Canberra, Wellington has distanced itself from New Delhi at a time when the incoming administration faces raised expectations among the Kiwi Indian community over New Zealand moving closer to India.
Instead, Prime Minister Trudeau has successfully manoeuvred New Zealand into breaking its silence and openly declaring its solidarity with Canada before the international community in its ongoing spat with India.
So, while Canada has had to downsize its diplomatic presence in India, Prime Minister Trudeau has secured a diplomatic breakthrough of sorts by drawing New Zealand out of its non-committal stance and compelling it to express solidarity with other Five Eyes members.
Stunning revelation
Last month, Trudeau made a stunning revelation in parliament that Canada had intelligence linking Indian officials to the killing of Nijjar. The initial response of Western nations to the news was muted, given India’s importance as a counterweight to China and coming just days after New Delhi hosted a G20 summit.
At the G20 summit, Trudeau had pushed for a joint statement condemning India, but was rebuffed by his Western allies.
While Canada has not made public the evidence it claims to have on India’s role in Nijjar’s murder, it is understood that the intelligence has been shared with its Five Eyes partners.
But the expulsion of Canadian diplomats by India has refocused world attention on a bilateral feud that is seeing Western allies closing ranks against India.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
