New Zealand PM Chris Hipkins touches down in Beijing

Beijing, The Gulf Observer: New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins touched down in Beijing beginning a week-long tour of China.

Hipkins landed at about 2.30am New Zealand time and was met at the airport by New Zealand’s ambassador to Beijing Grahame Morton and a welcoming committee of Chinese soldiers and officials.

On the tarmac, Hipkins was met by China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu.

He arrives in China at a pivotal point in the Russia-Ukraine war, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin saw his authority challenged by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group.

His first day is relatively light on the diplomatic side, with the focus around business events hosted by New Zealand’s embassy in Beijing.

On Tuesday morning, he will appear in a series of events hosted by the World Economic Forum in Tianjin before heading back to Beijing to meet the Chinese leadership in the Great Hall of the People.

Geopolitical turmoil is an unwelcome intervention on what is otherwise a strictly trade exercise.

Ahead of the trip, Hipkins said trade was the bread and butter of how New Zealand made its way in the world.

“There’s not much more bread and butter than trade for a country like New Zealand, we are a trading nation,” Hipkins said.

“Trade is a centrepiece of the trip,” Hipkins said.

This will not stop Hipkins from speaking up about human rights. In 2021, the New Zealand Parliament voted unanimously to voice concerns at human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Ahead of the trip, attention was focused on US President Joe Biden and his decision to label President Xi a dictator.

Hipkins said he would not use similar language himself.

“I generally don’t think those labels are useful,” he said.

Hipkins deftly sidestepped the question multiple times. Asked to describe Xi, Hipkins said simply “I haven’t met him yet”.

This is Hipkins’ first meeting with Xi Former prime minister Jacinda Ardern last saw him at the APEC summit in 2022.

The last time a prime minister visited China was 2019.

Hipkins was taking no chances with this trip, which included one of the largest business and cultural delegations ever sent on an overseas mission.