Opinion | Is New Zealand moving away from its traditional pro-China policy?

Jacinda Ardern’s talk of differences becoming ‘harder to reconcile’ fuelled speculation Wellington may rethink approach to its largest trade partner

But New Zealand is not taking sides in the US-China struggle – instead it is differentiating between countries and issues, such as Xinjiang and human rights

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New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:00am, 7 May 2021Updated: 7:01am, 7 May 2021

In the past 24 years, New Zealand has maintained a pro-China foreign policy that has been consistent under successive prime ministers, and is different from that of its larger neighbour Australia.

The Kiwis, as New Zealanders are often referred to, are proud of their independent approach towards relations with Beijing that has been defined by six “firsts”.

New Zealand was the first country in the “West” to support China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in December 2001. The South Pacific nation was also the first developed country to recognise China as a market economy under the WTO; the first developed country to start negotiating a free-trade agreement (FTA) with China; the first developed country to sign and ratify an FTA with China; the first Western country to join China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; and the first Western country to sign an MoU with China on the Belt and Road Initiative.

However, a recent speech by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has fuelled speculation about whether New Zealand is rethinking its approach to ties with China. Ardern, who took office in 2017 and has not deviated from the traditional policy approach to China though she has handled it with her own flair, made four points when she spoke at the China Business Summit on May 3.

The differences between our systems – and the interests and values that shape those systems – are becoming harder to reconcile

Jacinda Ardern

The first three points were familiar to China watchers. She said that no country in the world could ignore China’s geostrategic relevance; second, New Zealand and China had very different perspectives on some issues, and there was a need to manage those differences effectively; and third, New Zealand and China needed to work together, especially on international trade, environment, climate change, and the global pandemic.