As part of his five-day visit to China, New Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.
His first since becoming Prime Minister in January, Hipkins is in China along with a business delegation representing areas including tourism and education.
Hipkins stressed that the focus of his meeting with Xi was to “reaffirm our close economic relationship by supporting businesses (to) renew their connections with Chinese counterparts and helping grow new ones to support New Zealand’s economic recovery.”
Before starting his visit, he described New Zealand’s relationship with China as a “critical part of our economic recovery.”
In his brief introductory remarks, Hipkins highlighted the fact that New Zealand once again had open borders for students and tourists, adding that the country is open for business.
“Our borders are now open in both directions, flights are resuming, group tours are arriving, students are returning and businesspeople are able to engage with each other in person.
“Again, we expect trade, education and tourism connections will continue to increase as air connectivity between our two countries continues to improve.”
Chris Hipkins
Following two consecutive quarters of economic decline, New Zealand’s economy formally entered a recession this month. Officials claim that China is key to three of New Zealand’s engines for post-pandemic economic recovery; exports, tourism and education.
China is New Zealand’s largest export market, and Wellington over the years has managed to maintain warmer ties to Beijing than some of its Western allies.
New Zealand has issued critical statements about China’s human rights and foreign policy practices, but has generally experienced less friction with China than other countries in the region such as Australia.
Xi lauded “the great importance” of China-New Zealand ties. Describing Hipkins’ visit as “very meaningful,” Xi added, “I’m also aware, that the international community, especially countries in our region, have been following your visit very closely.”
“Our bilateral ties have continued to grow in a sound and steady manner. Amid the changing international landscape, our relationship has remained robust and strong. It has brought tangible benefits to the people of our two countries and contributed to regional peace, stability and prosperity.”
“China always views New Zealand as a friend and a partner.”
Xi jinping
Hipkins And Xi Discuss US-China Relations
In a press conference, Hipkins disclosed that he and Xi discussed US-China relations in the region.
“I was able to restate New Zealand’s position that we welcome dialogue between China and the US. And with reference to recent dialogue opportunities, including the visit by [US Secretary of State] Secretary Blinken, here to Beijing just recently, certainly New Zealand welcomes that.”
Chris Hipkins
Hipkins also made mention of the fact that New Zealand and China are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations. “This is a very significant bilateral milestone,” Hipkins opined.
“The bonds that connect us go even further back than that, though; our earliest links are those Chinese migrants who came to New Zealand in the 19th century, whose descendants continue to call New Zealand home.”
Chris Hipkins
The New Zealand Prime Minister iterated that his country and China have a solid relationship.
“As I’ve seen, we work together, where it’s in our mutual interests to do that, where we need to disagree or we do disagree, then we convey that as well.”
Chris Hipkins
Earlier on Tuesday, Hipkins attended a meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Chinese port city of Tianjin alongside other foreign officials and joined a signing ceremony for four New Zealand exporters and their Chinese counterparts, a statement from his office noted.
Hipkins is slated to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday, June 28, 2023.
