Interview: New Zealand, Chinese leaders focus on future of relationship

New Zealand leaders at the second New Zealand- China Partnership Forum in China this week will be aiming to future-proof the bilateral relationship with a focus on building people-to-people links, a senior New Zealand delegate has said.

More than 60 New Zealand business, community and government leaders have headed to China for the forum, but "it's not just about business," New Zealand-China Council executive director Pat English told Xinhua in a phone interview on Monday.

English was speaking after a momentous couple of months for the New Zealand-China relationship when the government rejected one major Chinese investment in a North Island farm holding and regulators begin looking at another large Chinese investment, a 50- percent stake in New Zealand's biggest meat processor.

Both deals have fueled an already heated debate on foreign ownership of New Zealand assets and accusations of xenophobia, which flared in July with claims from the main opposition Labor Party that ethnic Chinese were buying a disproportionate number of homes in New Zealand's biggest city of Auckland and driving up prices.

New Zealand Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Associate Trade Minister Todd McClay would be attending the talks so there would "some interesting discussions around the table" at the plenary investment session on Wednesday, said English.

While challenges surrounding China's slowing economic growth and its affect on New Zealand exports would be discussed, organizers were trying to "future forward" the talks, said English.

"What is it going to look like in the years to come? What are we dealing with and how are we going to manage future issues? The focus really is about playing it forward," English said.

New Zealand and Chinese organizations were both strongly represented at the talks, which would cover four key areas: people- to-people links, food, investment and tourism.

"Anything and everything is on the table within those parameters," said English.

"We have a plenary as well so the leaders will be talking about the issues of the Chinese economy, of what does the slowdown mean, how it's impacting New Zealand, how China is responding, but also things like the One Belt and One-Road, AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), how China's responding to some of those challenges as well," he said.

"For New Zealand in other sectors, dairy is well down, but other merchandise goods are up meat, seafood, wood, tourism's well up, education is well up."

"There's been a lot happening which is positive, but what we want to do is come out with a number of recommendations as to how we can improve the operating environment, whether that's people-to- people or how it's going to be on Chinese language study in New Zealand, with education, with the understanding between people."

Around 24,000 New Zealand children of primary school age were now studying Chinese language and a "flow" was starting to come through to secondary education.

"Organizations like the Confucius Institute, the Asia New Zealand Foundation, the Ministry of Education, all of these are contributing to an increased participation in Chinese language," said English.

"We've got to make sure that the systems are there that the teachers are there which is why actually in the (New Zealand China Free Trade Agreement signed in 2008) there was a special category just for MLAs (Mandarin language assistants)," he said.

"There is progress being made there. It's good."

The second New Zealand-China Partnership Forum, organized by the New Zealand-China Council and the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, is being held in two legs, in Beijing and Shanghai.

The first forum was held in Beijing in 2013. Endi