Nanaia Mahuta began her career as Secretary of State by issuing a statement – supported by the US, UK, Canada and Australia – calling on China to respect democracy in Hong Kong.

China responded threateningly
tear our eyes.

Last week, using new national security laws that China imposed on Hong Kong, there were mass arrests of pro-democracy activists. The US, Canada, UK and Australia issued a joint statement condemning the arrests.

New Zealand was striking in our absence. Mahuta’s response was 43 words on Twitter expressing regret. There was no official response on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

For the first time in our history, our government has decided that the costs of defending democracy are too high. Calming didn’t work. China now knows we are giving in to pressure.

Last week showed that the world needs the United States. What happened in the US affects us too.

Last week’s biggest event was not the invasion of the Capitol. It was the Democrats who won the senate elections in Georgia. After nearly two and a half centuries, although historically Georgia’s population is half black, the state has elected its first black senator.

The long-term significance is that the South is changing. The suburb of Atlanta voted for Democrats. The suburb of Houston also voted for Democrats. If Texas becomes a Democrat, it will be very difficult for Republicans to win the presidency.

Of short-term significance, the Democrats now control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the president.

Only after the Georgia race was announced did Joe Biden nominate DC Circuit Court of Appeal Chairman Merrick Garland to become attorney general. When Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court, Senate Republicans refused to consider the nomination. Biden can only nominate attorney general after he finds out he can replace Garland in the Court of Appeal with a judge of his choice.

Biden has gone from potentially being one of the weakest Presidents to being able to implement his program.

Obama and Trump only controlled the House and Senate for two years. The majority of Biden is narrower. He could not possibly have had control of any of the rooms for more than two years. With a Senate filibuster, Biden only had time to skip part of his agenda.

The Covid pandemic must get priority; vaccine launches and economic recovery. Biden does not want to use his valuable legislative time on the post-Trump impeachment trial. He may not have a choice. Inciting rebellion must be a “crime and petty offense”.

The average voter doesn’t know whether voter fraud is common. It’s possible for President Trump to convince a majority of Republican voters that the last election has been stolen.

Voter fraud is rare. I was a candidate or campaign manager in 17 elections and I’ve never seen organized voter fraud. Organized voter fraud requires too many people to cooperate except in authoritarian regimes.

In contrast to voter fraud, which no one has seen, all Americans saw on TV Trump supporters storming the Capital. Republican voters see President Trump encouraging unrest. The damage to the Trump brand is permanent.

President-elect Biden prefers to let Trump leave office within a week and face many of his court cases.

Vice President Mike Pence is very unlikely to use Article 25. This provision exists if the President is incapacitated, not as a substitute for impeachment.

On the other hand, the DPR is likely to pass the impeachment article. The DPR could delay sending the impeachment article to the senate until Biden has time to confirm his cabinet and approve the Covid aid package. Every time there is a trial in the Senate, it is divisive and takes up valuable legislative time.

To unify the country, Biden needed a policy that had bipartisan support. Both Democrats and Republicans are deeply concerned about China’s growing authoritarian behavior. Biden wants to rally a liberal democratic coalition of nations to challenge Chinese actions such as using trade to punish Australia, arresting two Canadians in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Chinese Huawei executive and now mass arrests in Hong Kong.

Our governments need to say to future governments: “There is already a coalition of liberal democracies pledging to uphold international law and rules-based trade, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The United States and Britain need to join forces.”

With the addition of the United States and the United Kingdom, the Trans-Pacific Partnership will become the world’s largest trading bloc. New Zealand is no longer economically dependent on China.

This will be a successful foreign policy for Biden. Our foreign minister will once again defend our democratic values. This is the best way to support the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

• Richard Prebble is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. He was the leader of the Action Party from 1996 to 2004.