Fascinating machinations in China as Chippy manages a diplomatic win at a time of increasing geopolitical tensions and it has immense ramifications.
There has been criticism that NZ didn’t push the human rights abuses issue hard enough, but that criticism doesn’t appreciate the current state of affairs in the Pacific between China and America.
Friend to all, enemy to none is the philosophical backbone of NZs independent foreign affairs policy and it should be the soul of any move to neutrality (more on that later).
After the extraordinarily aggressive tone taken in private by the Chinese towards NZ, there was a fear that our largest trading partner was about to use all that trade as a negative leverage against us, however by all private accounts, Nanaia Mahuta responded in that meeting with true grit and fearlessness and stood for the mana of our country and forcefully responded that NZ will voice the issues that matter to us without fear or favour.
Maybe the Chinese were testing us or probing us, but Nanaia’s response made it clear that attempting to bully us would not work on any level. The friendship shown Hipkins by Xi demands attention because what matters most is a deescalation between China and the Pacific.
Our diplomatic strength is in friendship, with tensions so high, lecturing China on human rights abuses is not the smart position to take. The Chinese value respect and face saving, there’s no reason to provoke a response with criticism right now.
Don’t get me wrong, NZ urgently needs to diversify and decouple our economy away from China and pivot towards India because China is still the largest communist regime on the planet and has a brutal view of humans rights and we don’t want to be economically dependent on an authoritarian regime, BUT give China the respect it’s earned by lifting 100 million out of extreme poverty!
China’s threat to us is not direct military conflict, it’s the constant pushing in the Grey Zone: Economic dependence, vast diaspora, industry espionage, societal influence – you name it, China’s interests are being pushed. You counter that with better culture and freedoms that allow Chinese/NZers to live a fuller deeper life than a communist regime allows for.
You don’t counter it by skipping off with the US and Australia into another American war!
Chris Hipkins has navigated these tricky waters and stabilised our relationship with China and for that he should celebrated because this was quite a feat.
He spun the lines that NZ dairy is clean and green despite that being bullshit, but a grifter’s gotta hustle and the grift aside, he managed to avoid NZ getting smashed in any tug of war between China and America.
We don’t want to be controlled by Beijing, or Washington and moving forward we need to have a serious conversation about neutrality and how we must spend more of our GDP on a new military that can protect the Independent Realm of NZ.
3 cheers for the Prime Minister.
China clearly wants a relationship with NZ, it matters to them that a Western Nation has a friendship with them and we should focus on building friendship with China while acknowledging that taking that path means we have obligations to remain vocal about human rights WHILE decoupling our economy so that it can’t be used as leverage.
We want to be friends, but not too close eh?
They are still an enormous authoritarian regime and we are very very very tiny in comparison.
It’s poignant that 50 years ago, NZs independence was tested and we stood with courage…
…the geopolitical shockwaves coming our way, the climate crisis and the manner in which America wants to cause conflict will all demand NZ stands independent again.
Fuck getting sucked into another pointless war for America!
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Until we fix our own record on human rights I don’t think we have the moral right to criticize any country on their internal affairs.Stop filling our jails with young maori and our run down motels with poor people
The problem we face, with regard to having an independent, or fully neutral, foreign policy is that when push comes to shove would our 5 eyes allies allow us to stay on the sidelines
Maori in NZ prisons are there because they broke the law – Uyghurs in concentration camps in China are there because they are Uyghurs.
Another contrast for you to chew over Peter is Maori are to have ‘enhanced’ access to surgery in NZ hospitals vs Uyghurs being taken to a local hospital for forced organ harvesting . . this may escape you but that constitutes quite a big difference between the two and their approach to human rights.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/06/china-un-human-rights-experts-alarmed-organ-harvesting-allegations
Totally agree with you Peter, let’s get our house in order before lecturing others.
A mouse talking with a shark.
Mostly agree but i suspect Xi jerked the chain and Chipkins took his licks. However we will be glad of our positive but neutral stance with China when the US dollar is jettisoned by OPEC+. It will be a a landslide into depression for the US who has done little to nothing for the South Pacific region.
Nanaia Mahuta has been very supportive of America’s race war against the Chinese people and their government. Good thing Hipkins went instead.
Can’t believe that I am in agreeance with the resident bomb-chuker on here but the treatment of the Uyghurs appears to be no different to the Jews (and many others) during WW2 and most of the world turning a blind-eye to this for monetary gain is simply reprehensible.
Here’s something which is never discussed: Was independence even a good idea in the first place?
Does anyone really believe that separation from New South Wales actually resulted in a better outcome? Or how about refusing to join the Federation as the seventh state in 1901, particularly since Dunedin was being seriously proposed as an alternative to Canberra as the capital?
And was becoming a Dominion at all even a good idea, particularly since all British Subjects were later stripped of their rights? What if the country had remained a British Overseas Territory or a U.K. Dependency?
Great work Prime Minister Hipkins. You beauty!
Yes, relations seemed very friendly.
Then, as they say.
The crocodile always appears to smile before it eats you.
I bet Xi knows what a woman is!
Yes! And he can probably use concise words to define a ‘woman’ to his citizenry too! .. Unlike our own piss-weak pm who is totally delusional to think that pissing off kiwi chicks has ever worked out well in the polling booth.. (or is even a good idea generally)..
Well done, great post, lol
“Choyna” as Winston Peters famously lampooned ex Natzo leader Soymun Bridges lumpen accent.
What’s the problem with China all you tory fuckers? The Brits, USA, and Japan all tried to do China over and ultimately failed.
It helps that Chippy said that Xi wasnt a dictator, and something to the effect that even if he was, its wasnt any of our business.
Fear not, we will never be under China’s control while we choose to be under Washington’s control. Yep, we are as independent as a ten day old baby, this is why despite being our most important trading partner, we love to shout sweet nothings in China’s direction, and we do this with pride and utter fearlessness. Trading partner and fearlessness, yeah this makes sense! Unfortunately for us, we have a penchant for swallowing Washington’s perennially unverifiable kool-aid, hook, line and sinker.
Happy to trade with India but no mention of their cast system which locks people out of society no matter how rich or educated they become . No country is free of racism some just hide it better than others. Racism is alive and well in NZ so we ate not in a position to point the finger.
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