AWA: Academic Writing at Auckland

Historically, New Zealand had few to do with China and much of the public’s perception of Chinese was based on Eurocentric values and stereotypes. It is expected that the dynamic development between New Zealand and China’s relationship would create conflicting views across the New Zealand public. Currently, the New Zealand Inc China Strategy is the embodiment of the New Zealand government’s recognition of China as one of the most important partnerships. Its many focuses include strategies to foster positive public attitudes of New Zealanders towards China, retaining a positive diplomatic relationship and also a huge focus on trade and economics. Just how exactly did New Zealander’s go from not being able to imagine a New Zealand without its heavy roots in Britain, to the gradual acceptance of the country’s advancing bilateral ties with China?

Changes in the population demographic through immigration strategies have largely influenced attitudes of New Zealand public towards China. The strategy of marketing New Zealand as a ‘fairer Britain of the south seas’ during the 19^th century resulted in its population to be dominated by British settlers. During this time, early immigrants from China entered a New Zealand with heavy Eurocentric values that influenced the public’s anti-Chinese perception (Ip 2005). Numerous legislative strategies targeting Chinese immigration allowed this theme to continue, beginning with the Chinese Immigration Act 1881, to the 1920 Immigration Restriction Amendment Act that permitted only 100 Chinese maximum per year into New Zealand. Attitudes of the public paralleled this, the most well known being the formation of the White New Zealand League in 1926, with “the main points in opposition to Asians were… fear of economic competition, fear of endangering the moral fibre of New Zealanders, and fear that Asiatics would overrun the country” (Leckie 1985). A significant turning point was the election of the Kirk government in 1972, who suggested that New Zealand needed an immigration policy that ignored prospective migrants’ race, colour and religion (Grief 1995). This contributed to the change from an immigration strategy that encouraged European development and discriminated against Asians (Greif 1995) to the Immigration Act 1987, paving the way towards a multicultural population of today. With the launch of the non-governmental New Zealand China Council as part of the New Zealand governments’ China Strategy, the current plan stated on their website involves informing New Zealanders about the beneficial relationship between New Zealand and China, and supporting and collaborating with other organizations active in New Zealand-China relations. Governmental legislation has shown to largely impact public attitudes historically, and with the evolving relationship between China and New Zealand, organizations such as the New Zealand China Council may do the same, but in a positive direction.

The relationship between New Zealand and China governments have evolved from opposing sides to the strategic partnership it is today, and this has lead the views of the public in the same direction. The Korean War was a significant force that shaped New Zealand and China’s relations, with New Zealand being a strong supporter of the United Nations and China on the enemy line. The political climate during this time emphasized China as a security threat to the Asia and Pacific, and this clouded the views of New Zealander’s of China (Brady 2008). This is seen in the accounts of Chinese New Zealanders during this period, as described by Nancy Kwok-Goddard who felt New Zealanders viewed her with distrust and suspicion (Ip 2014). However, in 1971 the reconciliation between the United States and China lead to the establishment of New Zealand-China diplomatic relations in the following year. Although this was a politically-based initiative against the spread of the Soviet influence over the Asia-Pacific, eventually it’s role in increasing trade with China’s rapidly developing economy would dominate, as in just the year 1985, China was New Zealand’s eighth largest export market, and currently, the second largest (Brady 2008). Although New Zealand and China have very different political cultures, the strong bilateral trade provided stability in diplomatic relations, and in 2004, China was considered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as one of the 6 most important diplomatic relationships for New Zealand. The continued efforts of the New Zealand government to maintain a positive relationship with China have seen subtle nuances in public attitudes. For example, the large-scale controversy of Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s visit in 1999 can be compared to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s arrival at the Auckland Museum in 2003 being described as having “smaller in number and more low-key” levels of protest groupings (Baker 2007). Following on, the New Zealand Inc China Strategy established in 2012 the main goal to “retain and build a strong and resilient political relationship between New Zealand and China”. It appears that even though there may be lingering traditional or prejudiced views of China similar to those experienced by Nancy Kwok-Goddard in some New Zealanders today, the affect of positive changing diplomatic relations with China currently have been mirrored in the attitudes of the general public.  

The incremental shift in New Zealand’s national identity towards Asia-Pacific was greatly influenced by economic factors. New Zealand’s early history of Western colonisation formed the basis of a heavy economic dependence on Britain. With majority of New Zealand’s exports and imports going towards Britain in the early 1990s, New Zealanders had little interest or knowledge about other countries (Holland and Kelly 2012). However, in 1973, Britain joined the European Economic Community, which heavily encouraged New Zealand to diversify their export markets, as seen in the participation in organizations such as APEC in 1989, an institution to support economic growth in the Asia & Pacific region through open trade and investment, integration, security and cooperation. The shift in economic focus on Asia resulted in New Zealand’s early willingness to recognise and trade with China through demonstrations such as being the first Western country to form a bilateral agreement with China on its accession to the World Trade Organisation (NZTE and MFAT 2012). These initial positive diplomatic relations through trade lead to the eventual signing of the Free Trade Agreement with China. This was a move that not only significantly impacted New Zealand’s economy, but also New Zealander’s perceptions on China. In 2013 more New Zealanders saw activities including Free Trade Agreements and Asian tourism in New Zealand as positive impacts on New Zealand (Asia New Zealand Foundation 2014). This theme of changing identity still resonates today, as Prime Minster of New Zealand in 2012 believes that “the centre of gravity of global economic activity will keep shifting from the Atlantic to the Asia-Pacific region.” The New Zealand inc China Strategy symbolizes this perception, and has a strong economic focus including on increased tourism and export education, which has undoubtedly shaped New Zealanders and their interaction with Chinese. Findings in a 2014 survey (Asia New Zealand Foundation 2015) show significant increase in New Zealanders saying they had ‘a lot’ or ‘a fair amount’ to do with Asian peoples or cultures, a sharp dichotomy to homogenous population of New Zealanders in the 1990s.

New Zealand’s high affinity towards China is a result of China’s status as a dominant figure in the Asia-Pacific, a region in which New Zealand increasingly identifies with post-colonially. Strategically, the New Zealand Inc China Plan shows the New Zealand government has readily accepted the importance of China, however, as seen in the findings of reports such as the Asia New Zealand Foundation, there are mixed feelings across the New Zealand population. It is apparent that the direction the government plans to head down will continue to preserve China’s presence in the future of New Zealand. Therefore, just like how diplomatic, economic and strategic plans in the past have been the underlying contributor to New Zealander’s attitudes such as the anti-Chinese during the 19^th century, contemporary initiatives will aim to do the same, but in the other direction. The New Zealand China Council represents the link between the New Zealand government’s China Strategy and the attitudes of the public, through leveraging high-level influential players to influence support of deeper and stronger links between New Zealand and China.

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