China trade agreement upgrade to reflect modern trading relationship: PM
Monday, 14 May 2018
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will be heading to China later this month for a four-day meeting to talk trade, at a 'seriously critical' time.
After six months, no Government ministers have travelled to China despite the coalition saying the relationship was a priority. But that will change when Peters heads to Beijing, with Jacinda Ardern and Trade Minister David Parker expected to follow later in the year.
'The object is to, frankly, extend our relationship at a time when trade, and trade-related matters is seriously critical,' Peters said on Monday.
A range of issues, including the North Korea situation, would be up for discussion during the trip, he said, adding that New Zealand was talking about the importance of turning around North Korea's nuclearisation programme through offering economic incentives more than a decade ago.
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The trip comes at a time when New Zealand and China's 10-year-old Free Trade Agreement was due for an update, and as the rhetoric around China's political and economic influence in the Asia-Pacific region, including in New Zealand, was building.
Peters has made a point of talking about China's growing influence in the Pacific region - without actually using the word China - and the need for New Zealand to step up, as part of its Pacific reset.
Last week, the Government announced almost $1 billion in foreign affairs spending, mostly for aid and development in the Pacific.
The foreign minister was asked whether China's influence in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific would be on the agenda during his trip.
'I'm in a job called foreign affairs, and diplomacy is rather important. You'll know I'm naturally a tactful person, and I won't be raising those issues in the way you put them.'
These comments were a change from Peters' more direct stance ahead of the election, when he called for an inquiry into China's political influence in New Zealand, following the Jian Yang spy school scandal.
The trip was expected to take place near the end of the month, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also hoping to make a trip to China before the end of the year.
'New Zealand isn't naive to the issue of foreign interference, we keep a rolling track and brief of whether or not our institutions are robust… That's something we monitor on an ongoing basis, again to make sure that we are facing up to a dynamic changing environment when it comes to foreign interference and it's not down to one loan state actor,' Ardern said.
CHINA TRADE DEAL UPGRADE
The details of the trip come after Trade Minister David Parker said he was hoping for 'quick and substantial progress' in negotiations for an upgrade to New Zealand and China's Free Trade Agreement.
Parker said the 10-year-old FTA with China would receive an update in 'coming weeks'.
An area of concern that would be discussed in the FTA upgrade was e-commerce and border security compliance.
He told a room of businesspeople that New Zealand was suffering more biosecurity issues, such as Mycoplasma bovis, because border security arrangements had not moved on to reflect peer-to-peer importing through e-commerce.
E-commerce trade lacked compliance measures, he said.
Parker said trade tensions and growing protectionism had made it a difficult period for New Zealand to navigate global trade.
'As a little country we are reliant on the international rule of law to stand up for us and explain the NZ interest,' he said.
AGREEMENT TO REFLECT MODERN TRADING RELATIONSHIP
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, also at the event, said the upgrade to the FTA would reflect New Zealand and China's modern trading relationship.
She said the Government would bolster the trade relationship with China through a few scheduled state visits by ministers this year.
Ardern also hinted at New Zealand's involvement in China's Belt and Road initiative.
'Belt and road initiative is a priority [for] China, and New Zealand is considering areas we want to engage in and other areas we will be interested observers,' Ardern said.
Last year New Zealand signed a memorandum of understanding for the One Belt One Road initiative, referred to by some as the New Silk Road.
The $1 trillion initiative, launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, aims to improve the country's connections with Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe by funding hundreds of infrastructure projects along ancient trade routes.
She said over the 10 years of the FTA, China had grown to become one of New Zealand's largest export markets.
'Next year will be the China New Zealand year of tourism … But we must look further, and we're now exploring new fields of co-operation in agri-tech, science and technology.
'I expect this trend to continue into the future.'
On the United States' and China's interference in the Pacific, Ardern said New Zealand had not developed its relationship with the Pacific enough and as a result the Pacific nations had built a 'number of relationships with others'.
Ardern said: 'This is about us taking responsibility for what we are meant to be doing.
'We will never be the biggest donor in the Pacific. But we can make sure we strengthen the importance of the Pacific.'