New Zealand Armed Forces

.... oops sorry, I said Whenuapai for their base but it is actually Waihopai near Blenheim.

I'm sure that at the US embassy in NZ, Chile, & perhaps at the Macmurdo Antarctic station there r listening stations too; also the French from their islands probably share some intel as well, esp. lately with perceived Chinese threat. There r many things we don't know surrounding this topic.

They have a base at Christchurch airport to support their operations in Antarctica.

The five eyes listening station in Waihopai is not some garden variety satellite dish...

The AUKUS may pressure NZ to spend more & build up her Naval & AFs,

We are not part of AUKUS and they have made that clear.

The only real option for an AF these days would be old F-16s and we couldn't afford them.

If the Germans could keep their subs in the Tasman Sea during WWII,
what to say of the Chinese & Russians that have bigger navies & bases on the Pacific?

So what if they do... why should we care?

US culture is more of a threat to New Zealand than the Russians or Chinese ever were.

NZ is the extra strategic unsinkable aircraft carrier (just like Puerto Rico, Guam, & the Phillipines they took form the Spanish after taking over Hawaii), South of Oceania, between Australia, S. America, & the Antarctic; the US won't care what the Kiwis think & how they feel. If need be, they will use mil. bases & other assets for their AF, Marines, Army & Navy even if NZ itself has no such big & capable forces. Look at Iceland that has just a small CG & no military, while its bases r used by NATO 24/7.
Even when not a part of it, the AUKUS members may apply pressure- NZ is remote but still depends on trade, air routes & SLOCs with the rest of the world.
Just recently the US arranged a change of regime in Pakistan; years earlier they did the same in Australia, removing its Governor General.

As a bridge to the Antarctic we are useful, but we are down the end of a dead end street otherwise... too far away from anywhere important to be useful... we are about 1,000km away from Australia which is thousands of kms away from everything else... plus Australians love Americans and think they are wonderful... they would probably go to Vietnam again if the US asked them to.