Insights | New Zealand PM's China visit to further strengthen friendship, understanding: NZ expert

(ECNS) -- New Zealand has every reason to believe that the successes arising from properly-handled New Zealand-China diplomatic relationships can be an excellent model for Pacific nations to adopt, Mike Dawson, president of the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand China Friendship Society, said on Tuesday.

Dawson made the remarks in an interview with China News Network during New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’s visit to China.

He expressed his expectations for further strengthening the bilateral relations between New Zealand and China. “The prime minister's visit would further strengthen the diplomatic relations, the friendship, understanding and goodwill which the two countries have enjoyed for the past 50 plus years,” Dawson said.

Meanwhile, he expected that agreements can be reached in areas where New Zealand and China have already been exploring cooperation, including climate change, clean energy, electric vehicles, emerging technologies, resilient infrastructure, and healthcare.

“These issues are impacting the entire world. We would like China, and if possible New Zealand, to be world leaders in all of these fields,” said Dawson. “We trust that good practical and aspirational agreements will come out of these discussions.”

Except for the substantial trade with China in dairy, meat, wood, and grain products, he suggested bilateral trade can be further expanded to more types of products.

When referring to bilateral cooperation under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Dawson gave positive comments.

“RCEP is a strategy opportunity for multilateralism,” he said.

Economic, trade and practical cooperation under the RCEP framework has already brought high-quality products and services to the peoples of New Zealand and China, and have created substantial increases in income, tax revenue and job opportunities, he said.

He stressed that the RCEP is set to improve access to BRI funds, thus further enhancing gains from greater market access by strengthening transport, energy, and communication links.

“RCEP’s Rules of Origin will also attract foreign investment,” he said.

Official data shows that China’s outbound foreign investment in BRI countries has reached 164 billion U.S. dollars. “Combined with the opportunities created by the RCEP, such as greater access to funds and markets, these achievements will multiply exponentially over time,” Dawson said.

New Zealand is confident that opportunities brought by the cooperation under the BRI framework will benefit the country’s enterprises as well as its people, he added.