Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk zed B.
Speaker 1: Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Big Day Ahead. On the diplomacy front, Christopher Luxen will
Speaker 2: meet with Chinese President Jijimping in an attempt to strengthen
Speaker 2: our trade relationship. So eight hundred and seventy one million
Speaker 2: dollars where the commercial agreements have been signed so far
Speaker 2: between Kiwi businesses and our Chinese counterparts, and more is
Speaker 2: expected to come. Alistair Crozier is the executive director of
Speaker 2: the New Zealand China Council and is with us this morning.
Speaker 2: Happy Mataniki to you, Alistair.
Speaker 3: And to you too, Andrew, Good morning.
Speaker 2: Nearly a billion dollars worth of business. Is this a
Speaker 2: success so far?
Speaker 3: Yes, it looks to have been a really busy couple
Speaker 3: of days in Shanghai. Agreements signed in all sorts of areas,
Speaker 3: from primary produce to beauty product exports to new air
Speaker 3: routes and so. Yes, going to Beijing on a bit
Speaker 3: of a high.
Speaker 2: So there was there were some visits that he did yesterday,
Speaker 2: but today they really down to it. So how should
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister play this today with meeting g do
Speaker 2: they just exchange peasantries, Hello, how do you do? Or
Speaker 2: will they talk specifics?
Speaker 3: Sure? No, these will be substantive meetings. I think the
Speaker 3: first point to notice there's actually three big meetings today
Speaker 3: is I understand it with President She but also the
Speaker 3: PM's most direct counterpart is probably Premier Lee Chang, who
Speaker 3: visited New Zealand last year and also the Speaker of
Speaker 3: the legislature there. And in all these meetings they will
Speaker 3: be more than peasantries. There's a lot to discuss. I
Speaker 3: think it comes down to a respectful exchange of views
Speaker 3: on a wide range of subjects.
Speaker 2: Okay, will we be talking about our relationship when it
Speaker 2: comes to of course, the threat that China opposes in
Speaker 2: the South Pacific is our relationship somewhat fractured as we stand.
Speaker 1: Up to them.
Speaker 3: I don't think it is fractured. I won't hazard a
Speaker 3: guess as to exactly what topics will come up today,
Speaker 3: but I think the key thing that both sides have
Speaker 3: repeatedly emphasized is firstly, there are in nevatively going to
Speaker 3: be differences between countries of such different situations as New
Speaker 3: Zealand and China. But secondly, it's important to deal with
Speaker 3: those differences respectfully and consistently, and that very much ties
Speaker 3: in with New Zealand style of diplomacy. We don't use
Speaker 3: the megaphone, and I think, you know, we'll get to
Speaker 3: a stage with our relationship where we're both able to
Speaker 3: raise things in a collaborative way and make progress that way.
Speaker 2: Was the announcement of the dropping of funding to the
Speaker 2: Cook Islands unfortunate timing.
Speaker 3: I think it's just part of the world we live
Speaker 3: in that there's multiple issues going on at any one time,
Speaker 3: and again it's really the way in which these things
Speaker 3: are discussed rather than the contents.
Speaker 2: All right now, how big a focus will tourism be,
Speaker 2: because I know we're at something like eighty something percent
Speaker 2: of what there was pre COVID. It's been tough times
Speaker 2: in China, they're not traveling quite so much. How important
Speaker 2: is tourism in our relationship?
Speaker 3: Very important? And I think you've seen that on the
Speaker 3: visit and then the lead up to the visit. I
Speaker 3: think we've had three separate announcements from Immigration New Zealand
Speaker 3: about tweaks to the visa policy that will make it
Speaker 3: easier for Chinese people to visit New Zealand. We've also
Speaker 3: had the announcement of a new flight from Shanghai through
Speaker 3: Auckland to Latin America. So you know, I think New
Speaker 3: Zealand's pulling out all the stops to encourage those tourists
Speaker 3: to come back to New Zealand. We have had about
Speaker 3: a quarter of a million Chinese visitors in the last year,
Speaker 3: but you're right, that's still down on where we were
Speaker 3: before the pandemic.
Speaker 2: Have you a little bit as good, Alison Crozier from
Speaker 2: the New Zealand China Council, I thank you for your
Speaker 2: time this morning.
Speaker 1: For more from News Talks B listen live on or online,
Speaker 1: and keep our shows with you wherever you go with
Speaker 1: our podcasts on iHeartRadio.