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New Zealand Assures Australia There Is No Rift Over China

Phil Mercer

   SYDNEY - New ZealandPrimeMinister Jacinda Ardern has insisted relations
   withclose ally Australia are notgoing to
   benegativelyimpactedbyChina.The Ardern government has been accused of
   going soft on Beijingin order toprofit from better trade relations with
   theEast Asian nation.

   Ardern hasalsobeen holding annual talks with Australian Prime Minister
   Scott Morrison to discuss trade,securityand thechallenges linked to
   theCOVID-19 pandemic.

   In the New Zealand skiing and adventure sports resort of
   Queenstown,Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern andher Australian
   counterpart,Scott Morrison,havedownplayed signs of division
   overrelations withChina.

   Earlier this year, New Zealand said it was "uncomfortable" using the
   70-year-old Five Eyes intelligence grouping, which includes the United
   States, Britain,Australiaand Canada, to criticize China. That was
   widely interpreted as an attempt by Wellington to avoid damaging its
   lucrative trading relationship with Beijing.

   A television news documentary accused New Zealand of abandoning
   Australia "for a fast Chinese buck."

   New Zealand was reluctant to sign joint statements from its alliance
   partners condemning China's crackdown on thepro-democracy movement in
   Hong Kong and its treatment of its minority Uyghur Muslim
   population.The declarations have angered China's government.

   But after annual talks Monday withthe Australian prime minister,Ardern
   said she stood in solidarity with her trans-Tasmanneighbor.

   "At no point in our discussions today did I detect any difference in
   our relative positions on the importance ofmaintaininga very strongand
   principled perspective on issues around trade, on issues around human
   rights, and you will see that Australia and New Zealand have broadly
   been positioned inexactly the sameplace on these issues
   consistently.So, I really push back on any suggestion that we are not
   taking a strong stance on these incrediblyimportant issues," Ardern
   said.

   New Zealand has alsoindicatedit will support Australia in its ongoing
   trade dispute with China.Tensions between Canberra and Beijing
   haveincreasedin recent years over geopolitical disputes and allegations
   of Chinese interference in Australian politics.Canberra's call for a
   global investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, which
   firstemergedin China in late 2019, sent the relationship into a
   tailspin, resulting in sweeping Chinese tariffs on many Australian
   exports, including wine,barleyand coal.

   Morrison said his country's relationship with New Zealand remained
   strong.

   "As great partners, friends, allies and indeed family,there will be
   those far from here who wouldseekto divideus,and they will not
   succeed,"Morrison said.

   There are, however, areas of disagreement.

   Canberra's controversial deportation of New Zealanders convicted of
   crimes, including children, has strained thetwo
   countries'relationship.A senior Australian minister compared the policy
   to "taking the trash out."In response, New Zealand officials said
   practice was "deplorable" and that the minister's inflammatory remarks
   served only to "trash his reputation."

   Both countries also discussed how to ease tough COVID-19 border
   controls to eventually reconnect with the rest of the world.

   In a joint statement, Ardern and Morrison urged China to respect human
   rights in Hong Kong andcriticizedits incarceration ofUyghurMuslims in
   Xinjiang.

   In response, China said that Australian and New Zealand leaders had
   made "irresponsible remarks" on its internal affairs and made
   groundless accusations against Beijing.

   China has been a subject of global condemnation over the treatment of a
   million Muslim Uyghurs held in internment camps, including a U.S.
   classification of Chinese policies toward Uyghurs as 'genocide.'

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