TO The new Chinese ambassador who previously worked on the country’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) arrived in New Zealand, prompting speculation that Beijing plans to focus on deepening economic ties with New Zealand as the two countries face mounting challenges. diplomats.
Wang Xiaolong, who replaced former Ambassador Wu Xi, previously served as director general of the international economic affairs department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In that role, Wang helped oversee the BRI, which seeks to deepen economic ties between China and other countries and is a key focus of President Xi Jinping.
The initiative has sparked some skepticism from governments around the world, particularly Western ones, about Beijing’s motives, with claims that the BRI is largely an influence operation. In December, the EU announced Global Gateway, a € 300 billion infrastructure investment project aimed at countering the BRI.
Given Wang’s background, discussions about New Zealand’s participation in the BRI could grow, according to Dr. Jason Young, director of the Center for Contemporary China Research at the University of Victoria, who noted that the economic relationship between the two “It held up very well compared to some other countries.”
There was some New Zealand interest in the BRI under the center-right national government of former Prime Minister John Key. In 2017, China and New Zealand signed a “memorandum of understanding” to develop a plan for New Zealand’s involvement.
However, that commitment stalled after the 2017 election of a Labor-New Zealand First coalition, which took a more skeptical view of the BRI amid reports that it involved “debt trap diplomacy”, with some more countries poor people unable to repay Chinese loans for BRI projects. .
Last year, Wellington indicated its willingness to work with China on “mutually beneficial” BRI projects with an environmental emphasis. It is unclear what that would entail.
Young said the New Zealand-China relationship has also been under pressure due to “much more illiberal” trends in China in recent years, including economic coercion from Australia and repressive policies in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
These challenges led New Zealand to criticize China more openly than before. He has occasionally joined criticism of China from more aggressive Anglo-Saxon countries, Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The government has expressed concern that this could have commercial repercussions. In an interview with The Guardian in 2021, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta warned exporters to brace for a possible “storm” of anger from China.
New Zealand officials have also become more cautious about the implications of increasing Chinese aggression for the Indo-Pacific and New Zealand itself. A recent report by the New Zealand Ministry of Defense warned that the country faces “a substantially more challenging environment” due, in part, to China’s “increasingly strong nationalist narrative”.
Despite these challenges, New Zealand’s relationship with China remains relatively stable, Young said. “If I were a man who guesses, I would suggest [Wang’s] the focus will be on maintaining the relationship, in the sense of not having a deterioration like that [which] we saw in Australia ”.
On the other side of Tasman, government actions around China’s political and economic interference sparked a diplomatic conflict between the two countries, and China imposed significant tariffs on some Australian exports. Recent australian the poll indicates 60% of Australians view China as a security threat.
The Chinese embassy in New Zealand has been contacted for comment.
Additional reporting by Helen Davidson
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism