China President Xi Jinping has recognised New Zealand as an \u2018important partner and friend\u2019 and has proposed the relationship between our two countries be taken \u2018to a higher level\u2019.<\/p>\n
The remarks were made in a face-to-face meeting between President Xi and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Saturday 19 November that went on for almost twice the scheduled time. The meeting between the two country\u2019s leaders was held on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in Bangkok, which ended on Monday 21 November.<\/p>\n
Chris Lipscombe, President of the New Zealand China Friendship Society, heartily supports the call for a closer relationship between New Zealand and China. \u2018New Zealand has done extremely well out of our free trade agreement with China,\u2019 says Lipscombe. \u2018It\u2019s in our interest to work with China to maintain and improve this relationship.\u2019<\/p>\n
Following her meeting with President Xi, PM Ardern reportedly identified climate change as the number one priority for our region and an area of potential cooperation with China. \u2018For Pacific island nations, action on climate change is a matter of survival,\u2019 Lipscombe adds. \u2018If China can help, then let\u2019s work with them to provide solutions. There\u2019s no time to waste.\u2019<\/p>\n
President Xi, in his opening address to APEC Summit attendees, said that Asia must not become \u2018an arena for big power contest\u2019. He also spoke strongly against attempts to \u2018politicise and weaponise economic and trade relations\u2019.<\/p>\n
Lipscombe agrees, saying that sabre-rattling is an unnecessary obstacle to regional development. \u2018We have important work to do\u2019 says Lipscombe, \u2018and conflict doesn\u2019t help. Peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific is in everyone\u2019s interest.\u2019<\/p>\n
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China President Xi Jinping has recognised New Zealand as an \u2018important partner and friend\u2019 and has proposed the relationship between our two countries be taken \u2018to a higher level\u2019. The remarks were made in a face-to-face meeting between President Xi and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Saturday 19 November that went on for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":37549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37548"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37551,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37548\/revisions\/37551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}