New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will travel to China Tuesday to meet with Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, in Beijing.
It will be the first visit by a NZ minister to China since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mahuta said the diplomatic relationship between the two countries, which began 50 years ago, was “one of our most important, complex and wide ranging”.
“China is integral to New Zealand’s economic recovery but our relationship is far broader - spanning cultural, educational and sporting links,” she said in a statement.
Mahuta said she would discuss areas of cooperation – such as trade, environmental issues – as well as advocate on issues that reflect NZ’s values.
“I also intend to raise New Zealand’s concerns about key regional and global security challenges, including the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine”.
Mahuta will also meet with business leaders and hold a breakfast roundtable with women leaders during her two day visit to the Chinese capital.
Charles Finny, a former diplomat who is now partner at the government relations consultancy Saunders Unsworth, welcomed the news of a high-level meeting with China.
Having a face-to-face meeting demonstrates the atmosphere between the two countries was good and helped give local businesses confidence in the trading relationship, Finny said.
The timing would allow NZ to voice its opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while Xi Jinping was meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
“It would be remiss to not express our concern about what Russia has done and Russian actions,” Finny said.
For its part, China will be interested to hear NZ’s views on the new Aukus partnership which will see Australia buy nuclear-power submarines from the US and the UK.
The superpower will likely signal support for NZ's independent foreign policy, which was cemented by a 1984 ban on nuclear-powered vessels entering our waters.
David Capie, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies and Professor of International Relations, said Mahuta’s focus would be on reestablishing a face-to-face relationship with the Chinese government.
“I don’t think there will be any big new initiatives launched. I think the visit is the outcome in that sense.”
China’s relationship with NZ’s closest partners has become much more difficult in recent years, and has created more friction in the bi-lateral relationship.
“There’s longstanding issues like human rights, Hong Kong, cross-Straits relations, but now we can add to that foreign interference, and technology issues like the recent decision on TikTok”.
Parliamentary Services announced last week that the social media app must be removed from any parliament-issued phone – as did the US and UK – prompting criticism from China.
“One test for the visit will be to see if the Minister can find a way to express NZ’s desire to have a positive and constructive relationship with Beijing, while also facing up to the growing number of areas where New Zealand and China have real differences”.
Finny said Mahuta’s visit will hopefully be a precursor to the NZ Prime Minister visiting Beijing later in the year.
The Chinese diplomatic system generally requires a series of visits moving up the seniority ranks. Having Mahuta meet with China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, could clear the path for Chris Hipkins to travel later in the year.
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