Bob Carr, ex-Australian envoy with close China ties to sue New Zealand minister, Winston Peters, over China barb

Australia’s former top diplomat Bob Carr will sue New Zealand’s foreign minister over incendiary allegations about the closeness of his ties to China, his office said Thursday.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters made several allegations against Carr in a radio interview, which the Australian ex-diplomat alleged were defamatory.

“He is indeed taking legal action,” an aide to Carr said.

Due to Australia and New Zealand’s punitive defamation laws, media outlets that had published or broadcasted Peters’s remarks have since removed them from their websites and social media feeds.

His verbal volley came amid an increasingly fractious debate over New Zealand’s potential participation in a defence technology pact with Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Wellington is studying whether to take part in the so-called “pillar two” of the Aukus agreement, which focuses on developing advanced military technology like drones, artificial intelligence and hypersonic missiles.

Participation would be a sea change for New Zealand, which, although a member of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence sharing network, has pursued an independent foreign policy and depends heavily on China for trade.

Peters on Wednesday ruled out New Zealand quickly joining the Aukus pact but argued his country should consider taking part when the time comes.

“It would be utterly irresponsible for any government of any stripe to not consider whether collaborating with like-minded partners on advances in technology is in our national interest,” he said.

Canberra, London and Washington have also held talks with Japan and South Korea on taking part in Aukus pillar two, and appear further along in the process than New Zealand.

Carr is known as a vocal