China on Tuesday urged New Zealand to work in “the same direction, make the pie of cooperation bigger, rise above external distractions,” in response to comments made by New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta in a interview.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) said that progress in relations could be achieved “on the premise that the two sides have long been committed to mutual respect, mutual trust and win-win results.”
Zhao urged Wellington to work with China to advance a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”
Photo: Reuters
Mahuta had told the Guardian that New Zealand could find itself at the heart of a “storm” of anger from China, and exporters should diversify to ensure that they could ride out a less-rosy relationship with Beijing.
She pointed to the experience of neighboring Australia, which is in a deepening trade dispute with China.
“We cannot ignore, obviously, what’s happening in Australia with their relationship with China, and if they are close to an eye of the storm or in the eye of the storm, we’ve got to legitimately ask ourselves — it may only be a matter of time before the storm gets closer to us,” Mahuta said.
“The signal I’m sending to exporters is that they need to think about diversification in this context — COVID-19, broadening relationships across our region and the buffering aspects of if something significant happened with China,” she said. “Would they be able to withstand the impact?”
Yesterday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern weighed in, saying that Mahuta’s comments did not mark a shift in the country’s position on China.
“If anyone had read the speech that was delivered ... by Minister Mahuta roughly a month ago, she very much [spoke of] New Zealand’s position on these matters. And I don’t consider that to be a change in our position, or our rhetoric as all,” she said.
New Zealand is highly dependent on China for trade. China accounts for more than US$33 billion of New Zealand’s total trade and 28 percent of exports.
It is New Zealand’s largest export partner by a significant margin, and a key market for many of New Zealand’s key industries, including dairy, meat, forestry, tourism and international education.
As Australia’s relationship with China has deteriorated, it has been hit by tariffs on many goods, as well as instructions from Beijing telling Chinese to avoid travel to Australia.
Observing that experience has raised concerns in New Zealand that the country would be extremely vulnerable if it provoked Beijing’s ire.
China’s Global Times said in an editorial that the interview demonstrated increasing geopolitical pressure on New Zealand, but that the country could avoid “the storm” if it continued its “pragmatic” dealings.
“At a time when bilateral trade ties are supposed to foster stronger relations between nations, there is no denying that geopolitical struggles are bringing headwinds to China-New Zealand relationship as the New Zealand government has been criticized by its Western allies for being ‘soft’ toward China,” the editorial said. “For some time in the future, such pressure may continue to affect New Zealand, blocking it from maintaining normal ties with China.”
In a separate news report, the Global Times said that New Zealand enjoyed a steady relationship with China “due largely to Wellington’s relatively independent approach toward China from the US-led Five Eye alliance’s relentless aggression and political attacks against China”.
Zhao responded to Mahuta’s remarks at a news briefing on Tuesday, saying that “China and New Zealand are each other’s important cooperation partners.”
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