The Prime Minister has touched down in the United States just as China warned the superpower is playing with fire.
American warships in the Indo-Pacific - a signal to China: your influence is not welcome here.
US President Joe Biden, currently in Asia, has said it explicitly, committing to defend Taiwan if China should attack.
Asked if the US was willing to get militarily involved to defend Taiwan if it came to that, Biden said that was the case.
"That's the commitment we've made," the President said.
International relations expert Robert Patman, from the University of Otago, said: "He's making very explicit what has previously been regarded as implicit."
The White House quickly walked back Biden's comments, saying its policy "has not changed" and reiterated it would "provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself".
But Biden woke the dragon - China's Foreign Ministry. It said China will take firm action to protect its sovereignty and security interests. Another statement from Beijing warned that using Taiwan to control China was playing with fire and will get the US burned.
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"The Americans have decided to indicate to China that democracies are not always going to tip toe around authoritarian regimes," says Patman.
China's showing its strength with military drills while Biden's been busy in the region and gearing up for his first meeting with the QUAD alliance - the States, India, Japan, and newly-anointed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Biden also put America's Pacific presence back down on paper, committing to talks about an economic framework with 13 Indo-Pacific nations. It's about signalling America's return to the region five years after Donald Trump pulled out of the Pacific trade deal.
"It's clear there'll be a lot of hard work ahead of us," Biden said.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: "We've asked for that return, but not just that return, but for a wider interest, particularly in the economic architecture".
"It is growing and developing in our region, in which the United States has been less present."
Ardern herself is returning to America just as tensions are rising.
