The pair’s first face-to-face bilateral meeting since 2019 is set to take place on Friday night on the sidelines of the Apec forum. It comes at a tense time in New Zealand-China relations, where ideological differences – and New Zealand’s economic dependence on China as an export market – have continued to grow. Speaking in Bangkok to New Zealand’s Stuff news agency, the New Zealand prime minister said she would discuss the countries’ close economic relationship and opportunities for cooperation, as well as areas of diversity. “I will make sure to raise both in the national interest,” he said. “Let’s not define the relationship at the places where we part ways, but we must create an environment where we can grow them [concerns] because that’s part of who we are. We will always raise the areas we have concerns about,” he said. “We have to make sure we have an environment where we can do that without seeing retaliation, because in my opinion that doesn’t advance the relationship.” China is by far New Zealand’s largest export market, accounting for a third of its exports. At the close of 2021, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said two-way trade in goods and services totaled NZ$37.7 billion, up 20% from the previous year. The Chinese market made up 23% of New Zealand’s total trade and 32% of New Zealand’s merchandise exports. This dependence brought New Zealand a difficult balancing act between voicing concerns and maintaining economic ties. The New Zealand government faces sharp foreign and domestic policy differences with China – notably Beijing’s tensions with Taiwan, the oppression of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong and growing geopolitical competition in the Pacific, where the China has either established or attempted a number of security agreements with Pacific nations New Zealand considers close partners. The government has been cautious but consistent in raising these issues – having watched in recent years as Australia experienced the trade consequences of tough rhetoric in China during the pandemic. Ardern said discussions at the meeting would closely mirror New Zealand’s public statements on China. “I will be absolutely consistent … I have said many times that what we share in private we share in public,” he said. The prime minister said she would not touch China’s zero-Covid strategy, despite its economic impact. It is unclear whether the two will discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was clearly on the agenda at the G20 summit attended by Xi. Dr Jason Young, director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre, said he would “expect New Zealand to use the opportunity to further discuss trade and seek greater cooperation on climate change” as well as raise “significant relationship challenges’. including human rights concerns over Xinjiang and Hong Kong, geopolitical tensions in the Taiwan Strait, and New Zealand’s concerns about growing strategic competition in the Pacific. “I hope to see the prime minister … encourage China to use its relationship with Russia to seek an end to the destabilizing war in Ukraine,” he said. Ardern and Xi’s meeting comes after a long period of little face-to-face contact between the two countries. New Zealand emerged this year from a long period of lockdowns and travel restrictions, while China continued to impose both in pursuit of its zero-Covid policy. In this regard, some analysts say the fact of the meeting is as important as any specific items on the agenda. “The bottom line for the meeting is that it’s happening,” Young said. “New Zealand’s relationship with China is stable but strained – there are areas of cooperation that are positive for both countries and a number of issues and differences where concerns have not been resolved,” he said. The meeting would be “an opportunity to reiterate the importance of relations and for both sides to exchange views.” The pandemic period has been “very light on political interaction and very light on people-to-people exchanges,” said John McKinnon, chair of the New Zealand-China Council and former New Zealand ambassador to China, speaking at the NZ Institute of International. Cases on Monday. “The sooner we can move on from this, the better it will be for the overall health of the relationship and our ability to understand what’s going on in China. We don’t always agree with it, but we will have a better understanding.”
