WILL NEW ZEALAND COME OUT SPINELESS IN ITS TROUBLED CHINA RELATIONS?

Thakur Ranjit Singh

Weekend Herald of Saturday 16 February, 2019 carried many revealing articles and opinions on New Zealand’s current karate kick with China.

New Zealand and China Flag respectively, with the Beehive in the background. Chinese flag is higher, it however does not mean China will be allowed to blackmail and push New Zealand lower with bait of trade and tourism and relegated as a lower and weaker partner. 

W.D. Howard of Pakuranga implied a conspiracy theory and asked:

Will somebody please tell us why China is so desperate for Huawei to set up in New Zealand, if indeed it is?

HUAWEI: The apparent source and cause of tension, as it was pushed out by NZ as security concerns. Some raise question about a conspiracy theory as to why China is so relentless to have Huawei's access to NZ's sensitive issues.

 Len Houwere of New Plymouth was more forceful and lamented our one-minded obsession with Chinese trade:

..if our only measure of value is selling our commodities and buying the next-flat screen TV as cheaply as possible, we might one day discover we have  bargained  away more than  a trade  and deficit…Independent foreign policy with China  might well become an oxymoron as we bend over backwards  to appease this hyper-sensitive  intolerant regime. Not having a spine might make that act easier.

Indeed, New Zealand needs to show it has a strong spine to stand tall, and heed the Labour Party history.  Ardern’s Labour-led Government is advised to follow the path of dare paved by David Lange in removing “z” out of ‘ANZUS. Lange, as a tiny David challenged USA, the Goliath over nuclear ship visits to NZ.
  

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters (left) and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who collectively are responsible for NZ's external affairs. Would a National Government taken the same stance on Huawei? Should not Opposition work with the Government when it comes to external foreign matters and wider interests of New Zealand is concerned? Why is national Party politicising this matter? Isn't National party breaching a long-established protocol?

We hope Jacinda Ardern has inherited advisors with daring from those days when we stood up to a superpower- and stood tall. We have the same challenge now. New Zealand has a habit of punching above its weight in international scene. Be it rugby, human-rights, transparency, clean-green image, ease to do business with, treatment of original settlers and progressive foreign policies, among others. While trade is very important, losing soul for a few dollars more has never been the character of New Zealand. Now is the time we need to show resolve and not be bullied, otherwise we will be seen to be bargaining away our sovereignty in exchange for a good trade balance with China. 

As for the views of David Mahon, who has lived and worked in Chine for 32 years, hope they are not blinkered and he appreciates China’s cheque-book “colonialism” in smaller, poorer and weaker Pacific nations. Two such, among others are Papua New Guinea and my birth –country, Fiji.  Chinese go with blank cheques to invest in infrastructure, with a provision that they may take over once these cash-strapped nations are unable to pay those debts. They have already “colonised” a few infrastructure with such unethical dealings.

Are relations between New Zealand and China in tatters? Is Opposition National Party politicising this matter which may end up hurting Kiwis?

And their respect for environmental issues is highly questionable, as in Fiji they are currently desecrating mangroves in defiance of law, in building a hotel and tourist infrastructure in Malolo Island, west of Nadi Airport.

One may look in the crystal ball and prophesy how National Party would have acted on Huawei issue if they were in government. FIJI PUNDIT predicts they would have walked the path Labour did. However, Opposition needs to politicise such issues and blow their trumpet to show the government in poor light.

Some National Party politicians are making a big deal, blaming the government for a fall back and decline on Chinese tourists to Aotearoa because of the Huawei fiasco. In fact reduction in some tourist numbers appear to be God-sent temporary reprieve for some of our overloaded tourism infrastructure.

In some areas, the country has more visitors than it can handle. Concerns have already been raised about over-tourism, so a temporary slowdown in Chinese visitor numbers is a blessing in disguise.

Furthermore, Chinese will be shooting in their own feet if they boycott NZ. So many Chinese airlines make a beeline to Auckland Airport. Chinese tourism in New Zealand is a cash cow for them as they net millions. Much is said of Hong Kong Airlines pulling out of Auckland. Such commercial decisions are long-term commercial decisions and not mere knee-jerk reaction just because Huawei was rejected. Many hardly know we had such an airline. Cathay Pacific? Yes, that is the Hong Kong airline we know, and is here to stay.

We know Cathay Pacific as official carrier of Hong Kong. What is the big deal about little-known privately-owned Hong Kong Airlines pulling out of Auckland?

So many Chinese business operators have opened and invested in Mandarin -speaking tourism trade and infrastructure here. They have made a concrete-jungle of China and they love clean and green New Zealand. Chinese still love NZ more than Huawei. So much that they will take travel advisory of the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in New Zealand with a pinch of salt. There have been no concerns in the past and a hastily concocted warning notice on potential risks to Chinese tourists travelling to New Zealand will be taken with scorn it deserves. Chinese tourists have nothing to fear - and history supports them.

There is a hysteria created by the National Party. NZ will still have millions of visitors from Taiwan, South Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries, and we will still have our hands and facilities full – with millions of them.

And a strong spine to stand tall if we ignore the hysteria created by the Opposition.

[Thakur Ranjit Singh is a Fiji Indian media commentator based in Auckland, and runs his blog, FIJI PUNDIT]