Dr. Yang Jian,
Hon. Min. Nicola Willis,
|Ladies and Gentlemen, 
Dear Friends,

Good evening!

I am excited to attend, together with Consul-General Chen Shijie, the NZ Chinese Business Club Annual Gala Dinner this evening. First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Yang for the invitation. Warm congratulations to all the award winners. I would also acknowledge everyone present here for your support for the development of China-New Zealand relationship.

Talking about the relationship, as was mentioned by Min. Willis, earlier today, H.E. Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China successfully concluded his visit to New Zealand. The visit has continued the positive momentum for high-level exchanges between our two countries, playing an important role in further consolidating and expanding political consensus, strengthening people-to-people exchanges, deepening practical cooperation, and promoting collaboration between the legislative bodies of the two countries. Strengthening exchanges between our legislative bodies will help give full play to the role of people-to-people exchanges as a foundation and pillar for the development of bilateral relations, which will, in turn, contribute to upgrading and improving the mutually beneficial China-New Zealand economic and trade cooperation.  

I was deeply touched by the success of the visit. One of the highlights was the opening, this morning, of the Memorial Museum dedicated to Rewi Alley, who was in many ways a trailblazer for China-New Zealand friendship. He has been characterized in different ways: as a legend in his own time by then Prime Minister Bill English, as the greatest son of New Zealand by then Prime Minister David Lange, and as a towering internationalist by Deng Xiaoping, and more recently, as a great New Zealand friend of Chinese people by President Xi Jinping. All these are because of what he did for China’s independence and construction and for the promotion of the relationship between our two countries. Rewi Alley has become almost a household name in China. A lot of the Chinese people got to know New Zealand through him and because of him. What he did was not exactly understood by everyone in this country for a while, but he persisted anyway in his strong belief in the mutuality of benefits through friendship and cooperation. And his belief has been vindicated by what has happened since and what is going on in the relationship, which is showcased more recently by the very successful visit by Chairman Zhao.

So guided by the positive high-level engagement between our two countries, our practical cooperation has continued to make new progress this year.

Bilateral trade has maintained a robust growth momentum. In the first half of the year, bilateral trade reached 20.92 billion NZD, up 9.4% year-on-year. New Zealand’s exports to China totaled in that period 12.36 billion NZD, an increase of 12.6%, accounting for 21% of New Zealand’s total exports. Exports of dairy products, timber, and meat to China all recorded positive growth. The total annual bilateral trade is expected to exceed 40 billion NZD again. 

Recently, the New Zealand government announced an agreement with a Chinese shipyard to build two Cook Strait ferries, further expanding the scope of our cooperation. Earlier this month, New Zealand commenced visa-waiver travel for Chinese tourists holding Australian visas, and China has extended its 30-day visa-free policy for New Zealand citizens until the end of 2026.

These outcomes are the result of our joint efforts. We look forward to building upon this foundation to expand the mutually beneficial cooperation in even more areas, such as green energy and infrastructure.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As the world’s second-largest economy, China is not only one of the largest markets globally, but also increasingly a key source of innovation. This very fact is a fundamental driver for the bright prospects and great potential of China-New Zealand cooperation. 

According to estimates by the IMF, every 1 percentage point of increase in China’s economic growth boosts the output of other economies by an average of 0.3 percentage points. China’s sustained and healthy development will create more opportunities for countries around the world, including New Zealand.

Not long ago, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee adopted the Recommendations for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan. In the next five years and beyond, China will continue to advance high-standard opening-up to promote deeper reforms and high-quality development, bringing more stability and certainty to the world economy. The Plenum and Recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan have 3 key messages:

First, regardless of how the international landscape evolves, China will remain focused on managing our own affairs well. Specifically, we will continue to prioritize economic development, laying a more solid foundation for basically achieving socialist modernization by the year 2035. In the next five years, China will fully leverage the strengths of its socialist system with Chinese characteristics, its mega market, its comprehensive industrial system, and its abundant talent resource base, and translate these advantages into tangible outcomes of high-quality growth and development.

The second message is that China will continue to step up efforts in endogenous innovation and in building a modern industrial system. In the next five years, we will bolster original innovation and R&D in key and core technologies, and deeply integrate scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation.

At the same time, China will continue to upgrade and enhance traditional industries, foster and expand emerging and future industries, and accelerate the building of a modern industrial system. This will not only inject new vitality into China’s economy, but also add fresh momentum to humanity’s joint efforts to address common challenges and promote common development.

The third key message is that China will continue to pursue high-standard opening-up. China is strongly committed to upholding the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, advancing high-standard opening-up, and proactively sharing the opportunities of its super-sized domestic market, serving as an “anchor of stability” amid rising unilateralism and protectionism.

As a responsible major developing economy, China has announced that it will no longer seek new special and differential treatment in current and future negotiations at the WTO. By further opening itself up, China will promote shared opening-up worldwide and provide the world with more certainty and positive energy.

A recent example is the newly signed Protocol to Upgrade the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area to Version 3.0, fully demonstrating China’s firm commitment to multilateralism, the rules-based multilateral trading system and free trade.

At present, China and New Zealand are conducting negotiations on a negative list for trade in services under the bilateral FTA, which will further unleash the potential for cooperation in services trade and create new growth areas for both economies.

Meanwhile, China remains committed to aligning itself with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and is actively seeking accession to the CPTPP and DEPA—sharing opportunities with the world while advancing its own high-level opening-up.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The NZ Chinese Business Club has a major role to play in both empowering Chinese businesses to grow better, stronger and bigger, but also empowering the Chinese businesses in New Zealand as stakeholders, and more importantly, as participants and contributors, building bridges between China and New Zealand and promoting the people-to-people bonds, practical cooperation and growth in the broader relationship between our two countries, which, I firmly believe, will bring mutual benefit for both of us, particularly both our peoples.

With these words, I conclude my remarks this evening, and wish the gala dinner a full success. May all your businesses thrive. And may the China-New Zealand friendship go from strength to strength.

Thank you.