New Zealand will extend the red carpet to Chinese Premier Li Qiang this week, with Prime Minister Chris Luxton hosting China’s number 2 in a “crucial round of talks”—the first by a Chinese premier in seven years.
The visit comes after a string of high-powered Chinese delegations visited NZ in recent months, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, with the Chinese looking to improve relations with its strongest Western partner.
“I look forward to warmly welcoming Premier Li in New Zealand,” Prime Minister Luxon said in a statement today, adding that “the premier’s visit is a valuable opportunity for exchanges on areas of cooperation between New Zealand and China.”
China is New Zealand’s most important export market, with new data published by Statistics New Zealand showing that more than 89.2% of radiata pine logs (for April) that left NZ were processed through China’s ports – ahead of South Korea at 4.7%, India at 3.5%, and Japan at 1.2%.
At the same time, New Zealand is also China’s most crucial import market, with China Customs data showing that more than half of all logs processed at ports were from New Zealand (51.1%), ahead of PNG (6.5%), the United States (5.7%), Russia (5.3%) and the Solomons (4.7%).
It comes after Wood Central reported that, back in March, NZ radiata pine was clogging up China’s mega ports, with more than 3.4 million cubic metres of NZ logs awaiting clearance at port.
According to Dr Jason Young, an expert in China-New Zealand relations, New Zealand’s trade with China is now “at saturation point,” with motivation with China to set aside disagreements and improve ties.
“It’s primarily designed for both sides to demonstrate that many challenges in the relationship can be managed,” said Dr Young, the Director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre at Victoria University, adding that with China showing signs of slowing down, “officials are looking to engage with as many markets as they can.”
The round of meetings comes after former Prime Minister Christopher Hipkins, last year, called for “deepening economic, trade and environmental cooperation with China” to strengthen forest exports.
However, the former prime minister said, “In this increasingly complex global environment, our relationship with China will continue to require careful management.”
Responsible for more than one-third of total exports, log exports are among New Zealand’s top three exports to China, along with dairy and meat, with the industry looking to further markets to reduce its reliance on China’s “boom or bust” economy.
