Ardern: Trade spat ‘disappointing’

US-China clash mars Apec but PM talks up positives

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is describing the trade spat between the United States and China that led to a failure to produce an Apec consensus as “disappointing”.

Apec ended in controversy on Sunday after Chinese officials reportedly forced their way into the office of Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato to discuss the wording of the Apec communique.

China dismissed the report as “malicious rumours” while Pato said the report was exaggerated, and the Chinese officials did not push their way in. The dispute was mainly over a sentence in the draft that read: “We agreed to fight protectionism, including all unfair trade practices.”

China reportedly refused to agree to the sentence as it amounted to singling out Chinese trade practices.

It was the first time in Apec’s 29 years a communique was not issued.

Speaking in Auckland yesterday with Chilean President Sebastian

Pinera, Ardern said the controversy reflected “some of the differences in the international trade environment”.

“It is fair to say it was disappointing that we were unable to have a communique issued at the conclusion of the Apec meeting . . . but it shouldn’t diminish from the areas of substantive agreement.”

She noted highlights from Apec, such as New Zealand’s agreement with the US, Australia and Japan to increase electricity to PNG, and New Zealand’s role in rebuilding Gordon’s Market, in Port Moresby.

She said Pacific leaders used the event to press climate change issues to world leaders: “My sense is that that really resonated with Apec leaders.”

During the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Vice-President Mike Pence made competing cases about trade, attacking each other’s position in vying for global influence.

Xi met leaders of seven Pacific Island nations on the sidelines of the summit in a bid to strengthen trade and tourism, while the US said it would join Australia in developing a naval base in PNG, a move seen to counter China’s influence.

Pence said the base would help “protect sovereignty and maritime rights in the Pacific Islands”, and later said he was prepared to “more than double” tariffs on Chinese goods.

He urged nations to work with the US because it did not “coerce, corrupt or compromise your independence”.

Xi said countries embracing protectionism were “doomed to failure”.