China New Zealand Photo:VCG

New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters commenced a three-day visit to China on Tuesday,MKS sports his first China visit since he took office in 2023, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry.

At the invitation of Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Peters will visit China from February 25 to 27, Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun announced on Thursday.

This year marks the beginning of the second decade of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and New Zealand. Last November, President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon in Lima, Peru. The meeting provided strategic guidance for the two countries' relationship to continue its sound and steady growth from a new starting point. Premier Li Qiang paid a visit to New Zealand last year and reached important common understandings with the New Zealand side on deepening practical cooperation, Guo said.

Peters' China visit is important for advancing the implementation of the common understandings between the leaders of the two countries and consolidating the sound momentum of growth in bilateral relations, Guo said. 

During the visit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Deputy Prime Minister Peters will exchange in-depth views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest. China hopes to step up strategic communication, enhance mutual understanding, and deepen exchanges and cooperation with New Zealand, and jointly address challenges and strive to build a China-New Zealand relationship that features mutual respect and accommodation, focuses on cooperation and pursues common development, the spokesperson said.

"China is one of New Zealand's most significant and complex relationships, encompassing important trade, people-to-people, and cultural connections. We intend to maintain regular high-level political dialogue with China," Peters said in a statement prior to the visit, reported RNZ on Tuesday. 

New Zealand's Embassy to China posted on its Weibo account on Tuesday that Peters had arrived in Beijing for his sixth official visit to China. The first was in 1997 as deputy prime minister and treasurer, followed by visits in 1998, 2007, 2014 and 2018. 
  
The visit marks the continuation of frequent bilateral interactions and opens a new page as the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership enters its second decade, Chen Hong, director of the New Zealand Studies Center at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Developing ties with China, New Zealand's longtime largest trading partner and export destination, is important for the country to boost its economy, Chen said. In addition to agricultural and dairy products, the two countries can expand economic cooperation to new areas such as solar energy and electric vehicles, deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges and explore cooperation in political and other fields.   

Another topic likely to be discussed during Peters' visit is China's live-fire drills in the Pacific Ocean. New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon recognized that China acted in accordance with international law, according to a Reuters report on Saturday. 

The case actually underlines the importance of the two sides to enhance communication and boost mutual trust and defuse noises, according to Chen, who added that an "occasional disturbance cannot affect the mainstream of cooperation."   

Against the backdrop of major changes in the global landscape, Chen Xiaochen, deputy director of the Institute of Area Studies at East China Normal University, believes that Peters, as a veteran politician, can play a positive role in bilateral exchanges when New Zealand needs to adjust its China policy in accordance with the new situation. 

New Zealand has signaled it will investigate whether it might join AUKUS Pillar II, an expansion of the original AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership between the US, UK and Australia, Radio NZ reported in November. 

Complexity of New Zealand's domestic politics, especially some forces heavily influenced by the US and other Western countries, are reasons behind twists and turns in China-New Zealand ties, Chen Xiaochen said. He believes Wellington's current task is to adjust China policy, avoid disturbance from certain forces. "New Zealand should pay more attention to Asia, as overseas trade is of utmost importance for the country."