NZ-China like ‘the taniwha and the dragon’
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has used her first major speech on China to highlight the need for New Zealand to diversify its trading relationships and reduce New Zealand’s reliance on China for export incomes.
In a breakfast speech to the New Zealand China Council, Mahuta used the set piece speech on NZ-China relations to outline what she views as a relationship based on respect, predictability and consistency in how New Zealand pursues its longterm interests.
‘‘If we look in the context of our relationship with China and China as a major trading market, we know that we need to ensure that businesses in New Zealand have greater resilience through their market connections, their trade platform with countries beyond China,’’ Mahuta said. ‘‘So it’s important to signal that now as we are in a context that we are recovering form Covid: it’s a major disrupter, there is an opportunity to strengthen multilateralism, there is the opportunity to continue to commit towards international laws and norms and use free trade agreements for good.’’
In remarks to media after her speech, Mahuta was explicit about the need for New Zealand to reduce its trade exposure to China.
‘‘What I’m signalling today, in this speech, is that resting our trade relationship with just one country, long term, is probably not the way we should be thinking about things. But it’s an ‘and-and’, it’s not about China or the rest, it’s about China and others.’’
Mahuta also claimed that both she and her counterpart Wang Yi ‘‘agreed that the relationship was in good shape’’.
The relationship with China has become frostier in the past few years as New Zealand has sought to balance its often warm and beneficial trade relationship with the need to take a harder line on China’s crackdowns in Hong Kong and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
This has been further complicated by countries New Zealand tends to align itself with, including Australia, Canada, the United States and the UK, all taking a tougher line in their relations with China.
Mahuta’s first landmark foreign policy speech, delivered at Waitangi in February, laid out a vision of the United States being an ‘‘integral defence and security partner’’, and China as a trading partner.
Mahuta is a largely unknown quantity in foreign affairs. For foreign policy watchers the language she uses will be raked over for signals and significance.
As well as spelling out what the Treaty of Waitangi means for foreign affairs, a new metaphor adopted by Mahuta yesterday dug into creatures of Chinese and Maori mythology. ‘‘When I think about this relationship . . . I liken it to the respect a taniwha would have for a dragon and vice versa,’’ she said. ‘‘Taniwha are protectors or guardians, often of water, and hold dominion over rivers, seas, lands and territories. Deeply steeped in culture, they are spiritual and one with nature.
‘‘They symbolise a sense of guardianship for our people and our land and a strong belief in self.
‘‘And like the dragon, they are powerful, auspicious, and embedded in our epistemology. They have many forms, and are a symbol of leadership, prestige and strength, and are to be revered. We are two peoples – with characteristics and symbolism unique to our respective countries.’’