China's place in the world and New Zealand's relationship with it - Tony Browne

Xi Jinping’s foreign policy is provoking anxiety and resistance in Washington with increasing calls for countries in Asia and the Pacific, including New Zealand, to put more distance between themselves and Beijing. China’s South China Sea claims, the Belt and Road Initiative, and China’s growing involvement in the South Pacific are held up as reasons why New Zealand should rethink its relationship with China. A crescendo of noise about alleged Chinese interference in New Zealand politics, in the media, through investment, and in the Chinese community keeping the issue alive. Tony Browne was New Zealand Ambassador to China from 2004 to 2009. Since his retirement from MFAT in 2011 he has been chair of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre and the Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington. He will comment on China’s foreign policy and the issues facing New Zealand in its relationship with China.