On Dealing With China

John Key is in China doing what he can to increase New Zealand's trade with that nation. We should all support an increase in business with China, because it is tracking to become the world's largest economy. So it is right that Key should be there flying the flag.

But dealing with a nation like China is not without its difficulties and moral quandaries. China is an authoritarian regime with a poor human rights record, and doing business in China requires us to turn a blind eye to some of what goes on there.

On the other hand, it can be plausibly argued that China's engagement with the West and growing prosperity will in the long run make it harder for the ruling Communist Party to hold on to power.

But how should we deal with the Tibet issue? The official Chinese line is that Tibet has always been a part of China, but this isn't what the history books say (by that I mean the books written by non Communist Party flunkies). Do we express our disapproval of China's oppression of the Tibetans in the strongest terms, or do we do as Key has done and pretend Tibet does not exist? Indeed, Key's apology to China over Russel Norman's protest bordered on sycophancy.

I'd like to say the answer is simple and that we ought to stand by our moral principles and decry the oppression of Tibet and China's poor human rights record. That is what the Greens would have us do. But the Greens have the luxury of being more or less a permanent opposition party. Their principles may be admirable, but unfortunately when the New Zealand government is trying to steer a course for our nation other factors have to come into play. China is moving to become our largest trading partner, and there are immense opportunities for us there. Opposition on the oppression of Tibet is moral and just, and yet it does nothing to help the Tibetan people. Should we make this an issue worth jeopardising our relationship with China over? I don't know. I don't have the answers, and I'm glad I'm not having to make the decisions.

Two other things trouble me about our relationship with China and Key's visit there.

The first thing is that our very success in China could be our undoing. As anyone who lived through the economic upheavals of the '70s will tell you, relying on one country for the bulk of your trade is a dangerous thing. When Britain joined the Common Market in the 1970s it impacted severely on our economy. The Muldoonist controlled economy was a response to that event, an act of denialism and an attempt to keep the good times rolling. That meant that the medicine, when it eventually came in the 80s and 90s, was nastier than it needed to have been. So if we put all our eggs in the Chinese basket, do we risk a similar upheaval if our trade with China is suddenly cut?

The second thing is that just before he left for China Key was vocal in his views on Chinese companies investing in New Zealand farms. Speaking up on the issue may have been good for votes, but it didn't seem like a particularly wise thing to do ahead of a visit to China. If we want free trade with China then we need to accept that some Chinese capital will end up in this country, and that some of our land will be owned by the Chinese. I wonder if the Chinese noticed those comments, but they certainly cannot have helped.

I don't think there are simple answers to these questions, but I would be interested if anyone has a view on how we should engage with China.