New Zealand will require continued engagement with China, its largest trading partner, but would disagree with Beijing in areas where it challenges the country’s national interests, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says.
NZ has long been seen as a moderate or even absent voice on China in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the United States and allies, and is carefully managing its relationship with China amid the strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
“A strong, mature and complex relationship (with China) means we will have those tough conversations … but I think it’s better to be talking than not,” Mr Hipkins said in a speech at the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs on Friday.
NZ will continue to disagree with China on several issues, including human rights, but the path of engagement will be “open and honest”, he said.
The speech comes about a week after Mr Hipkins’ six-day visit to China, which included meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said Beijing had always treated NZ as a “friend and partner”.
Mr Hipkins said NZ must ensure greater economic resilience across its trade markets in a time of global uncertainty, adding its independent foreign policy did not mean a neutral stance.
“As a country, we may be small, but we are not bystanders,” he said.
“We chart our own course, with decisions that are in our national interest,” Mr Hipkins said, adding any decision would not be “a radical departure” in the country’s foreign policy.
He said the US had been pivotal to maintaining the system of international rules that helped keep NZ’s interests safe, and he would continue to work closely with Washington.