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New Zealand PM to make curtailed China trip
WELLINGTON, March 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda
Ardern announced Monday that a long-awaited trip to China will take place
next week, but had been shortened in the wake of the Christchurch mosque
killings.
Ardern said she would travel to Beijing on Sunday then hold a full day of
meetings Monday with the leaders of New Zealand’s largest trading partner,
including President Xi Jinping, before returning home the next day.
She said she did not want to spend too long away from New Zealand as it
continues to mourn the March 15 shootings at two Christchurch mosques that
claimed 50 lives.
“It was originally intended to be a longer visit, including a business
delegation, but under the circumstances that did not seem appropriate to be
away for longer,” she told reporters.
It will be Ardern’s first visit to China since she was elected in late
2017 — an unusually long wait for the leader of a nation that signed a
pioneering free-trade deal with Beijing in 2008.
There were fears that Beijing had postponed the trip amid strained
relations after New Zealand’s intelligence agency last November halted plans
for Chinese-owned Huawei to participate in a proposed 5G network, citing
“significant security risks”.
Ardern has repeatedly played down the Huawei spat and did not directly
address it on Monday.
“This is an important visit, New Zealand places a high priority on our
relationship with China,” she said.
“I look forward to our ongoing engagement.”
She said discussion items would include upgrading the bilateral free trade
deal and combatting climate change.
BSS/AFP/MR/1104 hrs