New Zealand PM Says Differences With China Becoming Harder To Reconcile

In a speech at the China Business Summit in Auckland, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there are things on which China and New Zealand "do not, cannot, and will not agree", but added these differences need not define their relationship.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that differences between New Zealand and China are becoming harder to reconcile as Beijing's role in the world grows and changes. In a speech at the China Business Summit in Auckland, Ardern said there are things on which China and New Zealand "do not, cannot, and will not agree", but added these differences need not define their relationship. "It will not have escaped the attention of anyone here that as China's role in the world grows and changes, the differences between our systems - and the interests and values that shape those systems - are becoming harder to reconcile," Ardern said. "This is a challenge that we, and many other countries across the Indo Pacific region, but also in Europe and other regions, are also grappling with," she added.