Premier Li Qiang pledges more trade as China extends visa-free travel to New Zealanders

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday his nation’s differences with New Zealand must not become a “chasm”, pledging greater trade and “friendship” after touching down in Wellington for rare bilateral talks.

Li is embarking on a six-day tour of New Zealand and Australia, key trading partners that have become increasingly vocal critics of China’s expanding influence in the South Pacific.

“It is natural that we don’t always see eye-to-eye with each other on everything,” Li told reporters after a closed-door meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

“But such differences should not become a chasm that blocks exchanges and cooperation between us.”

Luxon said he used the meeting to highlight sensitive issues such as foreign interference and recent escalations in the South China Sea.

“I raised with Premier Li a number of issues that are important to New Zealanders and which speak to our core values, including human rights and foreign interference.”

Second only to President Xi Jinping in China’s political hierarchy, Li is the most senior figure to arrive on official business in New Zealand and Australia since 2017.

Over six days, he will set foot in five different cities, meet two prime ministers, hold talks with a string of business leaders, and engage in China’s trademark “Panda diplomacy”.

A noisy crowd greeted Li as his motorcade pulled into the Intercontinental Hotel in the heart of New Zealand’s capital Wellington.

Cheering supporters banged drums and waved banners, while a smaller group of shouting protesters clambered to get a look at his car.

Ahead of the bilateral meeting, Li said he was aiming to renew China’s “traditional friendship” with New Zealand, promising opportunities to bolster trade, tourism and