Will New Zealand alter foreign policy and recalibrate ties with China, West after Ardern?

Incoming leader Chris Hipkins faces task of balancing ties with China and the US while tackling domestic issues such as a cost-of-living crisis

China is ‘incredibly important economically’ to New Zealand, Hipkins says, raising questions about the country’s dependence on the Asian powerhouse

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Jacinda Ardern has her photo taken with a supporter on Tuesday during her final public appearance as New Zealand’s prime minister. Photo: New Zealand Herald via AP

Published: 8:36am, 25 Jan 2023

Jacinda Ardern’s shock departure as prime minister of New Zealand has prompted questions about the direction of foreign policy under incoming leader Chris Hipkins, who inherits a country contending with a cost-of-living crisis at home and pressure to address China’s strategic challenge overseas.

In her more than five years as prime minister, Ardern’s reputation as a charismatic leader enabled her to build important geopolitical relationships for her small, remote country with both China and the United States.

Experts say that required diplomatic agility during a period of bitter recriminations between East and West.

New Zealand’s incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaks in Ratana on Tuesday. Photo: New Zealand Herald via AP

But her emphasis on liberal values and empathetic leadership also gifted her an outsize role on the global stage for the leader of a country of around 5 million people and cast her as a counterpoint to the march of strident right-wing populists, including then-US President Donald Trump.

The biggest challenge for Hipkins, observers say, remains balancing New Zealand’s relationship with the two competing global powers, while centring domestic priorities as an October election heaves into view.

His Labour Party is trailing the centre-right opposition National Party in opinion polls.

In his first press conference, Hipkins said his government would focus on local “bread-and-butter issues”, but added that a visit to China was high on his priority list, describing the Asian superpower as “incredibly important economically”.