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

"It just tastes as good as [those from] home," New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told reporters while he was tasting a kiwifruit imported from New Zealand during a visit to a supermarket in North China's Tianjin Municipality on Tuesday.

"We have got a number of New Zealand businesses who focus on producing really high-value products. And we'd love to sell them more in China," Hipkins said on Tuesday.

A day before his trip to Tianjin, Hipkins went shopping in Beijing's renowned Silk Street Market, where he bought stuffed panda toys and Chinese traditional clothes for children as well as some designer works like Mark Cheung and Laurence Xu, local media outlet Beijing News reported.

It's reported that the prime minister left a message at the market, which said, "Thanks [Silk Street Market] for the pleasant shopping."

Analysts said the New Zealand prime minister's experience in China underlies complementary and win-win nature of the two countries' economic and trade cooperation, and this sound cooperation is unlikely to be impacted by international geopolitical headwinds.

"China and New Zealand are each other's important trade partners. We're ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with New Zealand in trade and other sectors on basis of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, so as to promote our bilateral relations to achieve even greater outcomes," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday.

China has been New Zealand's largest trading partner for many years, accounting for around 30 percent of New Zealand's exports of goods and services, according to the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand.

China-New Zealand relations have maintained positive development over the past decades, with New Zealand securing many "firsts" with China, for example, the first Western country to support China's accession to WTO and the first country to sign a free trade agreement with China.

During a meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Monday, Damien O'Connor, New Zealand's Minister for Trade and Export Growth, said that New Zealand has maintained a long-standing positive economic and trade cooperation with China. The trade structures of the two countries are highly complementary, and the bilateral free trade agreement has facilitated rapid growth in trade.

New Zealand will continue to leverage its advantages and strengthen economic cooperation with China, particularly in the agriculture and food security sectors, O'Connor said, adding that the Pacific nation seeks to enhance communication and coordination with China through multilateral and regional mechanisms, according to a statement released by China's Ministry of Commerce on Monday.