National flags of China and New Zealand on Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 25, 2023 Photo: VCG

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with New Zealand Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O'Connor on Monday, as the two sides conducted frank and professional talks on strengthening trade and economic cooperation in sectors such as agriculture and grain security, the ministry said in an official statement. 

The exchanges focused on advancing bilateral trade and economic relations and strengthening cooperation in regional and multilateral affairs, read the statement. 

The China-New Zealand comprehensive strategic partnership has been progressing under the leadership of the top leaderships from both countries, said Wang, adding that China's continued development and promotion of high-quality opening-up will offer new opportunities for the rest of the world including New Zealand. 

China is willing to work with New Zealand to promote balanced trade growth and continue to implement the upgrade protocol of the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), aiming to inject new momentum into bilateral trade ties, Wang added. 

Wang highlighted that China will further strengthen partnership with New Zealand under various international and regional frameworks including the WTO, APEC, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, along with other frameworks. 

O'Connor said that the official visit of New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to China bringing with him a large trade delegation aims to enhance bilateral exchanges. New Zealand is willing to continue to leverage its complementary advantages, further strengthen cooperation with China in sectors including agriculture and grain security, and ramp up communication and coordination in multilateral and regional mechanisms.

Following the thawing in China-Australia relations, Chinese experts noted the enhanced cooperation between China and New Zealand will boost regional economic exchanges despite the so-called "decoupling" hype from some Western countries. 

The trade cooperation remains as the ballast stone for China-Australia and China-New Zealand relations thanks to China's huge market potential, Chen Hong, director of the New Zealand Studies Center at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday, adding the consolidated interactions will continue to promote regional cooperation as China, Australia and New Zealand are all RCEP members. 

Amid the US call for "decoupling" or "de-risking" from China, New Zealand has made "prudent calculation" and not changed its national strategy under the pressure from the US, Chen said. 

Prime Minister Hipkins' visit to China is a pragmatic move from the New Zealand side, underlying the importance attached to economic and trade cooperation with China - its largest trading partner - amid global economic uncertainties and growing geopolitical tensions, Zhou Fangyin, professor at the Guangdong Research Institute for International Strategies, told the Global Times on Monday.

China is actively promoting opening-up in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, and strengthening win-win cooperation will facilitate both sides' economic recovery, according to Zhou.

Zhou said that New Zealand should continue to maintain the stability and continuity in its China policy in order to expand their partnership in trade, tourism and education.

A total of 29 delegates encompassing a wide range of export sectors including tourism and education are accompanying Hipkins, according to an article published by the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise on June 19, which is the country's international business development agency. The article stressed that the business delegation travelling with Hipkins to China will have a dual focus that will benefit New Zealand's economy and relationship with China.

O'Connor said at the meeting with Wang that China and New Zealand have maintained long-term economic and trade cooperation with a highly complementary trade structure, while the FTA accelerated the development of bilateral trade. He expressed his excitement on his Twitter, saying that he and Wang discussed the strong bilateral and economic relationship, with the two-way trade reaching more than NZ$40 billion ($26.7 billion). 

The development of China-New Zealand bilateral relations has gained momentum over the past decades, with New Zealand making many "firsts" with China, for example, becoming the first Western country to support China's accession to the WTO and the first country to sign a free trade agreement with China, Zhou said. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced on June 20 that prime ministers of four countries including New Zealand will attend the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin and pay an official visit to China.

During Hipkins' first visit to China, Mao said that leaders of the two countries will hold in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest.