With the Second World War over, Kiwis stood with their more powerful allies in the occupation of Japan. But with Britain increasingly preoccupied with its home affairs and Europe, New Zealand began to set its own foreign policy agenda. In this episode of The Years Back presenter Bernard Kearns explains how New Zealand turned to its own backyard to create new export markets. That also meant military involvement in Korea and Malaya and a sometimes fumbling attempt at being a colonial power in the Pacific.
We began, also, to seek markets in Asia, to make trade agreements. To realise at long last that we were not a piece of Europe stuck by accident in the Pacific Ocean. That we had, in fact, a place in Asia.– Bernard Kearns, Presenter
Archives New Zealand copy reference W3471/16BW475
16mm motion picture film
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