New Zealand is carefully managing its relationship with China and must avoid getting pulled from “pillar and post” amid the strategic rivalry between China and the US, New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta said yesterday.
Mahuta’s comments came as New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins nears the end of a six-day visit to China leading a trade delegation, which included meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) focusing on economic partnerships and trade.
Hipkins has faced domestic criticism for not spending more time during his visit raising New Zealand’s concerns about human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang region.
Photo: AP
“China’s a complex relationship that we manage very carefully,” Mahuta said.
She said that Hipkins’ focus on trade did not shift New Zealand foreign policy, but shows that New Zealand has a range of interests with China.
In a statement after Hipkins’ meeting with Xi, there was no mention of human rights concerns or the Taiwan Strait.
Both were noted in the readout of the meeting between former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Xi in November last year.
“I’m under no shadow of a doubt that trade and economic issues would have been discussed, human rights issues, the war in Ukraine,” Mahuta said.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
During the past five decades, “through joint efforts and based on mutual respect, seeking commonality while shelving differences” the relationship between the two countries had come a long way, a spokesman for China’s embassy in New Zealand said last week.
New Zealand has long been seen as a moderate or even absent voice on China in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.
The country’s tone on security and China’s growing presence in the South Pacific toughened last year after China and the Solomon Islands struck a security pact.
Mahuta said that Hipkins’ visit to China after her own in March reinforces the delicate nature of the relationship.
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