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

"It is just 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 in Tianjin where he is expected to attend the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions or known as Summer Daovs.  

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."

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

"As New Zealand businesses and people have many expectations for the prime minister's visit to China, Hipkins' above-mentioned experience sends a signal that his visit to China will benefit New Zealand exports," Zhao Gancheng, a research fellow from the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times 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, official data showed.  

China's vast market is especially important for New Zealand's agricultural products, and the prices of the products are also very competitive, Zhao said.

"China and New Zealand are each other's important trading partners. We're ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with New Zealand in trade and other sectors on the 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 at a regular press briefing on Tuesday.

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.

 "Compared with other Western countries, New Zealand has many favorable conditions for economic and trade cooperation with China, for example, it's an important tourism destination," Zhao said.

He said China-New Zealand cooperation brings mutual benefits to both nations, noting that now is a good opportunity for the South Pacific country to improve its economic and trade ties with China because the easing of China-US tensions means that it faces less geopolitical pressure and does not have to be stuck in the middle. 

"One of the key themes of my visit to China is reconnection," Hipkins said in a speech in Beijing on Monday.

New Zealand and China have a deep history with meaningful relationships in a variety of areas, most notably in areas of trade, tourism and education. China remains one of New Zealand's most important tourism markets. With over 400,000 people visiting our shores from China each year pre-COVID, they were the second-largest source of tourists, he said.

"With borders now open, and New Zealand open for business, we want to see those numbers climb again", he said

"We have seen the resumption of flights across our two countries. With the number of direct flights at 76 percent of pre-COVID level, and we want to ensure travelling between our two countries remains easy," he added.

On Monday, China's Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping met with New Zealand's Tourism Minister Peeni Henare. Hu said China is willing to work with New Zealand to actively implement the bilateral tourism agreement, establish a multi-level dialogue mechanism, and promote bilateral tourism cooperation.