China Foreign Minister Meets with New Zealand, Australia Officials on Trade

The past fortnight has seen ministerial-level meetings in Canberra and Auckland on trade, as China’s foreign minister travelled to the Australian and New Zealand cities to discuss deepening trade ties with the two nations respectively, officials say . Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid official visits to both countries from 7-10 February, following an invitation by Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully. Speaking to reporters prior to the trip, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said that “visiting Australia and New Zealand at the beginning of the Chinese New Year highlights the importance China gives to growing relations with these two countries.” "We were setting the scene for a range of high level meetings and engagements," said McCully in comments to Reuters, in which he also described the importance of demonstrating “leadership” in the field of trade liberalisation. For his part, Wang reportedly urged the two trading partners to continue working together to "protect the international trade system, build the open economy, and try to start upgrading the negotiation of the free trade agreement.” Beijing and Wellington are currently working towards updating an existing free trade agreement (FTA), though official negotiations have not yet...