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Security expert, Paul Buchanan, is calling for greater oversight and accountability of New Zealand’s intelligence agencies. Speaking on TV3’s The Nation this weekend, Mr Buchanan said the GCSB’s assurances that Huawei posed no threat to national security was another example of its incompetency. “If you were to ask me a month ago if I would take the GCSB’s word at …

The United States attack on Chinese telecommunications company Huawei shapes up like a declaration of economic warfare complete with buckets of political rhetoric and China bashing. Cynics might think a presidential election is looming. In just one month, the US has taken China to the World Trade Organisation claiming the Chinese subsidise their car industry and has blocked a Chinese …

Foreign Minister Murray McCully is off to Indonesia for bilateral talks, and to attend the Bali bombing 10th anniversary commemorations.   In Jakarta, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa will host McCully for the 5th annual Indonesia-New Zealand Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC).   “Building on the momentum created by the Prime Minister’s visit to Jakarta in April, we will discuss developments in agriculture …

Fran O'Sullivan sits down with Shanghai Pengxin Chief Executive, Jian Lei as he speaks about the ongoing Crafar Farms saga as well as his company's future investment plans in New Zealand. More to come

By Steve Hart Speaking at the inaugural China Business Summit, Theo Spierings, CEO of Fonterra – the world’s biggest dairy exporter – said a number of “megatrends” are starting to emerge in China. Global household incomes are forecast to rise by 50% between now and 2015; 350 million more people will live in cities; 50,000 new skyscrapers will be built, housing the population of …

5:30 AM Wednesday Oct 3, 2012 It has all the trappings of a hit movie – “Johnnie goes to Hollywood” – in which the Kiwi hero tries to inject more lifeblood into the NZ economy while a Great German Hulk flails about claiming New Zealand is in danger because US moguls are conspiring to capture the hero in their net. No …

By Stephen Jacobi So what was actually decided at the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Vladivostok? Not much if you take a glass-half-empty approach. It’s hard to get past the fact that APEC’s role is to be largely a forum for socialising ideas about economic policy that need to be put into practice elsewhere. That’s because unlike the …

Vladivostok has got a lot going for it. But out in the ‘Gulag’ – the concrete monstrosity that the Russians have plonked on Russky Island – it wasn’t so hot. It wasn’t the shoddy building standards (lifts stopping mid-floor; toilet doors too large for their frames) but the E-coli bug that did in several NZ delegates there for the prestigious APEC CEOs …

Former Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard beat a swift retreat from the recent Russian APEC. Bollard clearly wasn’t used to being tracked by big ominous looking Russians and did not hang about after being announced as APEC’s new executive director.The APEC role is the ultimate when it comes to “herding cats” – aka the many officials from around the region who …

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully left has left the ‘Big Apple’ to visit Jamaica and Cuba for bilateral talks. McCully displayed considerable prowess at the United Nations where he delivered a cut-through address slamming the Security Council’s failure to deals with the mounting deaths in Syria. He wants the P5 – the club of five permanent council members; the US, Russia, …