PM: Philippines a ‘huge opportunity’ for NZ
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will be waking up in the Malacañang Palace’s presidential guest house after a meeting with Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, as he continues the last leg of his Southeast Asia tour.
“We’re in the Philippines, a country of 110 million people, one of the fastest growing economies in South East Asia and I think just a huge opportunity for New Zealand to build out more trade and investment as well,” Luxon said yesterday.
Luxon said he had been to the Philippines “many, many times ... 10, 15, 20, 30 times”.
The Philippines had become a higher priority for New Zealand with more than 100,000 Filipinos now calling New Zealand home, he said.
“There’s an opportunity for us to build out on trade and investment.”
Luxon said it was “one of the exciting opportunities that we have underplayed, we haven’t had a PM here since 2013”.
Regional tensions were also a focus for Luxon on the trip. He was expected to meet Marcos last night, New Zealand time, after arriving in the Philippines from Thailand earlier in the day.
Talking to media after arriving in 36 degree heat, Luxon said he was concerned over “dangerous behaviour” in the South China Sea, ahead of the bilateral meeting with Marcos.
The meeting followed Marcos’ recent White House trip, where last week US President Joe Biden promised to defend the Philippines from any attack in the South China Sea, after the Philippines accused the Chinese coastguard of two recent collisions.
Luxon said he was “concerned about the dangerous behaviour with ships in the South China Sea in particular and obviously we want to see de-escalation and tensions resolved diplomatically”.
Luxon’s trip comes as the Philippines and the US are set to hold military drills outside Philippines’ territorial waters from next week, which China said would only bring “greater insecurity for itself”, according to The Guardian.
Asked if the military expansion was inflaming tensions, Luxon said there had been “long standing security arrangements in this part of the world”.
“Our wish in the South China Sea is to make sure that actually all the parties respect international law. It has been concerning to see some of the actions of unsafe behaviour on the seas.”
Luxon was asked if New Zealand would be prepared to join more maritime exercises in the South China Sea. He said it had not been considered “at this point, but we’d be open to looking at all those things in due course”.
He had discussed the South China Sea issue with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Thai PM Srettha Thavisin, and it would definitely be a topic of conversation with Marcos.
“We are a small trading nation, and what’s important to us is freedom of navigation, upholding international law, we are strong advocates of multilateral agreements.
“We do move a lot of our products and trade around through these seas.”