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The Prime Minister of Australia has arrived in New Zealand to speak face to face with Jacinda Ardern.
Leaders in Australia and New Zealand will hold preliminary talks since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the growing influence of the Chinese region and the controversial deportation policy in Canberra will be high on the agenda.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison touched on his visit to Queenstown station in New Zealand on Sunday night, saying goodbye to his counterpart Jacinda Ardern with a traditional Maori hongi, the couple squeezing their noses together.
Morrison is the first leader in the world to visit New Zealand since the two countries closed the virus last year.
Neighbors opened a quarantine-free travel bubble last month, although recent outbreaks of the virus in Melbourne have prompted New Zealand to cancel a travel bubble with the Australian state of Victoria.
Dennis Shanahan, national director of The Australian newspaper, said China’s growing influence in the region is a major topic of conversation.
“The issue has been forced on the leaders of Australia and New Zealand because of China’s increased influence and intervention in the region. But there are clear differences between the parties in Australia and New Zealand with their stance on China,” Canberra said.
Australia’s relationship with China has deteriorated significantly in the past year, as Beijing blocked some Australian exports after Canberra shut down Chinese telecommunications company Huawei’s 5G phone network and called for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.
Australia has taken China’s measure to ban barley exports to the World Trade Organization, and on Friday said it would set up a dispute resolution panel to look into the queue.
New Zealand, meanwhile, has taken a more appropriate view of China as the two countries renewed their free trade agreement earlier this year and the New Zealand trade minister has suggested to the Morrison government that it will give China greater “respect” for similar benefits.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s top diplomat also said last month that Wellington was “uncomfortable” with Five Eyes, a post-war intelligence group that also includes Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. The comment raised speculation that the New Zealand group had not sided with the recent criticism in Beijing.
“New Zealand has been hit by Chinese pressure much less than Australia, so it is much more likely to call on Australia to take a smoother line to go to China in public,” Shanahan said.
“But the Australian view is that we can’t do that and the Australian government doesn’t want a gap to appear between Australia and New Zealand as a result of Chinese pressure,” he added.
Also around the talks, Canberra is highlighting its policy of deporting foreigners convicted of crimes, even though they have lived in Australia all their lives.
Australian Interior Minister Peter Dutton has said the policy of “taking out the rubbish bin” has disproportionately affected New Zealand. In recent years, hundreds of Australian people have been deported to a neighboring country, including a 15-year-old boy in March.
Shanahan said Australia’s commitment to the deportation issue could get New Zealand’s support in the WTO’s complaint against China.
But despite the many areas of friction, the two leaders have claimed a bilateral bond before the talks.
Ardern said earlier this month that his relationship with Australia was “closest and most important” to New Zealand, and Morrison said: “Australia and New Zealand are family – we share deep historical ties of friendship, trust and the Anzac spirit.”
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