OPINION: Former New Zealand prime minister John Key says the country has always been capable of making its point with China, and it does so without “incredibly inflammatory language”.
When former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key was at dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping a few years ago, he had the chance to ask him a question that will shape geopolitics for the next few decades: what did Xi imagine China would look like in 30 or 40 years?
He worries New Zealand could risk its vital trade relationship with China if it follows Australia and turns up the heat on Xi over his intentions towards Taiwan and other parts of the region.“I always used to say, ‘We’re a little battling country at the bottom of the world, no one owes us a living so we better go out and sell things to other people because otherwise we’re going broke’,” Key tells this column in an interview at ANZ’s Auckland headquarters.
Key’s view is partly built around that view Xi expressed at dinner: the Chinese government knows its main focus and the bedrock of domestic stability is continuing to improve the economic standing of its citizens. Former New Zealand prime minister John Key says much of the West’s anti-China rhetoric began with Donald Trump and trade, and his claim that the US was not “winning”.What has changed since then, Key says, is Donald Trump, during whose presidency the framing of China as a country that didn’t play by the rules of fair trade took root in both sides of American politics.
O’Connor says free trade agreements struck in the past 12 months with Britain and the European Union will also help give New Zealand exporters a broader range of potential markets to hit.Key says he has long told exporters to avoid concentration risk; right now, he sees the potential for a slowdown in China as risks collide, including extending COVID-19 lockdowns and indebtedness in the property sector.
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