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This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and republished with permission.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern believes New Zealand is ending 2020 with its relationship with China as strong as when the year began.
He entered the growing dispute between China and Australia, formally expressing concern over “misinformation” put out by a senior Chinese foreign affairs official on social media or highlighting the report of convicting war crimes in Australia.
The manipulated image of an Australian soldier with a knife to the throat of an Afghan has plunged the two countries’ relationship to what commentators say is the “lowest point in 50 years.”
KITCHEN / ROBERT THINGS
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sits down with Stuff’s political editor, Luke Malpass, to review what year it was.
READ MORE:
* China’s Deputy Ambassador accuses Scott Morrison of overreacting to the controversial tweet.
* Beijing controls Chinese-language media agencies in Australia, says Intel agency
* Two MPs criticize China’s ‘coercive diplomacy’ amid growing turmoil in Australia
* Jacinda Ardern: New Zealand has expressed concern to China about the falsified image of an Australian soldier
‘Kiwis balance like Australian sheep, but do not condemn Afghan killings,’ read the headline of China’s state media Global times website the day after New Zealand made its statement.
“Ardern has shown that New Zealand will not stop playing double standards that the West uses so often,” the article says, “this is also part of so-called Western values: the freedom to be hypocrites.
“As a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance, New Zealand has to adhere to those values.”
From its foreign affairs podium, the Chinese administration questions what this New Zealand affair is about, suggesting that it shows that it supports the actions of Australian soldiers, accused of at least 39 illegal killings.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the tweet was disgusting and demanded an apology.
ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN / Sydney Morning Herald
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the tweet was disgusting and demanded an apology.
In the latest remarks, spokesman Hua Chunying said: “Australia and its few allies, instead of repenting of themselves, accused China of disinformation. I wonder if they can explain what disinformation is, who should be the one to define disinformation. And what do they mean by human rights?
“Is your shared value blaming others just to cover up? In this sense, the cartoon is a mirror that shows the hypocrisy and double standards of some people in these few countries.”
‘For us, it was just a beginning, we raised it’- Ardern
Was it an error in judgment that New Zealand sided with its closest ally, with so much at stake diplomatically and financially?
“We are very clear that this is not about taking sides,” said Jacinda Ardern. Focus on politics adding that New Zealand would call on other countries to do the same.
“For us, it was just a beginning, we raised it, and now that we’ve done it, that’s it for us and from our perspective.”
It was important that the relationship be seen as “just ours,” Ardern said.
“It is very common in diplomacy that it is always taken into account between the relationships in which other nations or the other dialogues are in other nations, but we have always taken a perspective: what are our values and what dictates that we do in these situations ? “
The ability to share concerns, through a variety of channels, should be “normalized” because this is how New Zealand has always conducted its diplomacy; an approach that has served this country well, he said.
Although it described the tweet as “inflammatory and inappropriate,” the National Party warned the government to take action carefully, as New Zealand had important relations with both China and Australia.
While there was a “historically strong” trans-Tasman relationship, New Zealand had also developed “strong relationships with China over the years … and of course they are an important trading partner,” the foreign affairs spokesman said. Gerry Brownlee.
China is New Zealand’s largest, with exports worth $ 20 billion a year; two-way trade is over $ 33 billion.
Leader Judith Collins said a careful approach was advisable “particularly for a very small nation … it can sometimes be seen as easier for any country to certainly put pressure on us financially or in terms of security.”
When asked if China is becoming more “optimistic” in its approach to Australia and New Zealand, Ardern said that neither country has remained “completely static in global positioning or approach to diplomacy.”
But that was it when it came to commenting on China and Ardern went back to talking about his own country.
“New Zealand has a consistency in our diplomacy that I think is probably quite rare, many other countries will change and evolve over time … but that’s one of the benefits of our relationship is that we are relatively predictable.”
Given the tensions that have increased significantly over the past week, does Ardern think the relationship ends the year as well as it started?
“Yes, I actually do,” he says.
“There have been several times when there have been issues that we have been able to raise, and we do so while continuing, I think, a mature relationship.”
This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and republished with permission.
