2012 Recap: Prime Minister John Key

By Brierley Penn

China is well on its way to becoming one of the world’s major superpowers said Prime Minister John Key. Speaking at the opening of the China Business Summit in Auckland earlier today, Key was clear in his sentiment that New Zealand must become a part of this growth story.

From an economic perspective China is NZ’s second largest market, and provides great potential for future growth. New Zealand currently sells more to China each day than we did in the entire year of 1972. “If we get it right, it will be really significant,” Key affirmed, alluding to a goal of doubling two-way trade to reach $20 billion by 2015.

While China may be an easy market to underestimate, Key was convinced that Chinese consumers are no different to other consumers. New Zealand still has the capacity to sell premium products to Chinese customers, based on high quality and safety standards, particularly in the food and beverage industry. The fallout from the Sanlu scandal highlighted the concerns that China has surrounding food security, which offers an opportunity for New Zealand firms to differentiate themselves by providing top quality products to the rapidly growing middle class.

The Prime Minister also spoke of the opportunities which we have to attract Chinese citizens to New Zealand, as a means of counteracting the problem of the brain drain to Australia that our country faces. He suggested that the areas in which Chinese citizens were particularly interested, such as science, engineering and commerce, were those in which New Zealand had a real need for external contribution to achieve growth. “They are going to be good New Zealanders. We launched a China strategy at the start of the year.”

As Minister of Tourism, John Key suggested that New Zealand needed to think differently if we are to do well with China on tourism. Although China remains the only country from which tourist numbers to New Zealand are not dropping, it is important that we focus on attracting the right type of tourists to our nation.

“We are better to have smaller numbers of people who spend more money… the Chinese upper class who want to stay in our top hotels ­ they are not afraid to spend money.”

Finally, touching on Chinese investment in New Zealand, he cited the view that the growth of China into a global superpower could become a very positive thing for New Zealand. “The push back on Chinese investment is short sighted. We want people to invest in New Zealand. I don¹t care where the investments come from.“

In a country so dependent on foreign investment for our future growth, we cannot afford to be selective with our international relations. The investment which can be provided by Chinese firms and individuals has the potential to create high value jobs, and fund infrastructural developments which will be imperative as we move to compete in an ever more globalized economy.

With or without New Zealand, China will continue to grow and become ever more integral to global politics and economics. As a country, we would be foolish to allow the opportunity to become a part of this incredible growth story to slip through our grasp.