A step forward for New Zealand-India relations.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is in Laos for the East Asia Summit, where he met with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, who invited him to visit in the new year.
Luxon says New Zealand’s relationship with India is moving in the right direction with the two discussing trade and other ways to work together.
Pre-election, National pledged to secure a free-trade agreement with India.
International geopolitical analyst Geoffrey Miller joined Francesca Rudkin.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Maria has texted me and thank you very much for
texting me. Maria. I'm going back to the sports huddle
here just before the news and we were talking about
Nadala and how he is retiring at the end of
the year and things, and there was a bit of
a snide comment about well, one of my contributors said, well,
when did he win something last? And Maria has just
made the point. Only two years ago, twenty twenty two,
(00:21):
he won the French Open. So thank you very much
for pointing that out. We deserve a bit of a
serve for that. You'd think that miss sports huddle would
know that, but you know, there we go, just giving
a bit of kudos back to nadal There right a
step forward for New Zealand's relations with India. The Prime
Minister Christopher Luxen is in last for the East Asia Summit,
(00:42):
where today he met with India's Prime Minister Nearendi Modi,
who invited him to visit India in the new year.
Luxon says New Zealand's relationship with India is moving in
the right direction, with the two discussing trade and other
ways to work together. Pre election national pledge to secure
a free trade deal with India. But this is the
first face to face the prime ministers have had. International
(01:06):
geopolitical analyst Jeffrey Miller joins me now on this good evening, Jeffrey.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Good evening, Franchesca, what what have they.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Talked about in this meeting?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Look, I think this is the first face to face meeting,
so it will be very much getting to know each
other and just setting the ground for that visit by
Christopher Luxen to indian which is going to come early
next year. So I guess that was the real wind
to come out of this meeting, the confirmation of an
invitation to visit India.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
For Christopher Luxen, it's really just an opportunity to say, yes,
we'd be happy to have some conversations in the future,
isn't it Jeffrey.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Essentially, yes, it's the beginning of the conversation. And a
free trade deal is a very long way away. This
is a marathon, not a sprint when it comes to India.
I mean, Christopher Luxin is right to focus on India
as one of his foreign policy priorities. He makes the
point that India is going to be the third biggest
economy by twenty thirty. It's already the world's most populous nation.
It's the leader arguably of the global South. So yes,
(02:08):
India should absolutely be in the mix. At the same time,
India's the two way trade that New Zealand has with
India is less than ten percent of what New Zealand
has with China, and that's a relationship which is hugely
important to New Zealand. And Yet Christopher Luxen didn't have
a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in last and Winston
(02:29):
Peters didn't meet with his Chinese counterpart of the UN
a couple of weeks ago, unlike Australia's Penny Wong. So
I think that perhaps is a crisis brewing when it
comes to New Zealand's engagement or that thereof with China,
because there's absolutely no visit on the horizon for Christopher
Luxe into China, or a visit even by Winston Peter's
the Foreign and to start and we're one year into
(02:50):
this government now, I find that quite concerning.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Nikay, Do you think that this meeting takes a bit
of a focus off our relationship with China.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Well, look, it's clear that this government wants to refocus
News Evan's International Relations. We've seen the move towards Australia
and the United States, the fact that New Zealand is
becoming interested in joining Pillar two of August. So that's
the context we're operating in, and clearly China is something
that is a bit difficult to handle for New Zealand.
(03:17):
We had that very positive visit by Lee Chang, the
Chinese Premier, back in June, but since then, Christopher Luxon
has actually taken a fairly hawkish turn, you would say.
He attended the NATO summit in July, he gave quite
a hawkish speech in to the Lowe Institute in Sydney
back in August, and also hiked visa fees. Now that's
(03:38):
applied to all nationals, but China is one of our
biggest tourism markets and I think they would have taken
it as something of a slight given that they provided
visa free access to New Zealand's citizens for tourism at
that meeting back in June, when Lee Chang, the Chinese Premier,
came to New Zealand. So I think there's a crisis
brewing in some ways with China. I think New Zeven
(03:59):
really needs to step up its engagement with China while
not overlooking opportunities of the future when it comes to India.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And you can do both right, I mean, you know,
as you say, it's always a bit difficult and a
fine line dealing with China, but they are an important
trade partner and we have to be able to do
hard things, Jeffrey, we you can't just go on.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It's difficult, indeed, and absolutely that the truths here. Look,
New Zealand has thirty eight billion dollars worth of two
way trade with China. There are biggest trading partner by far.
I find it quite concerning that it was not a
priority to meet with Lee Chang at the Stages summit
and rebalance New Zealand's relations to some degree. You know,
(04:41):
New Zealand's often said that New Zealand players walks as
tightrope or has this balancing act. But there's not a
lot of balancing up going on at the moment. It
seems to be largely one way, one way traffic. New
Zealand diversifying its relations away from China, you know, that
is a big risk for New zeal I think if
New Zealand doesn't get its relations with China back on
(05:03):
an even keel, you know at some point there may
be some repercussions in New zealandterfaith.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Any other outtakes from the Summitch that you have diffree well.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I thought one comment was really interesting by Christopher Luxon
at the media stand up today, and it was he
had absolutely no intention of meeting Serge Lover of the
Russian Foreign Minister at the meeting. I think that's really
interesting when you look at this wider context of Christopher
Luxe and being happy to meet Narendra Modi, the Indian
Prime Minister, because of course India talks to everyone. India
(05:34):
has good relations with Russia, good relations with Western countries overall.
I think New Zealand is a small state, absolutely has
the power to play this role in terms of dialogue, diplomacy,
de escalation. And actually I don't think it's that helpful
to just say I don't want to talk to Sege
Lover of the Russian Foreign Minister while he's got the
opportunity to do so. I think he should and put
(05:55):
New Zealand's position when it comes to war in Ukraine
and at least have a conversation and keep some dialogue
open with Russia while he had the opportunity. I mean,
you can argue he shouldn't go out of his way
to meet his Russian counterparts, but I think it's a
bit it's a bit silly actually, just to say no,
I don't want to go and talk to him. I
won't talk to him at all while I'm here.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Okay, And look, finally, do you think Christopher Laximith's meeting
with more global counterparts than Chris Hopkins did or is
my memory just fading or is it also because he's
just so new in the PM seat.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, I went through the list of his foreign trips
this year that Chris re Fluxeen has made, and we're
up to already, I think trip number eleven, which is
quite know, I think quite something, or might be over
the year since he became Prime Minister, and might include
those ones at the end of last year. But either way,
that's a significant number of trips. And it's quite clear
that Christopher Luxeon does prioritize international relations and foreign policy.
(06:50):
I think that's a good thing for New Zealand. I
think it's good that Winston Peters of course, is prioritizing
traveling as well. He's tried to get to every country
in the Pacific Islands for and I think you've managed
all of the countries now territories apart from New Caledonia,
but I'm sure you'll get there in the coming year.
(07:10):
So I think it's very good to prioritize just getting
out there, and especially after all that COVID period where
New Zealand just wasn't get and getting out there and
traveling enough when it comes to our Prime minister and
Foreign minister.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I appreciate your thoughts. Jeffrey, really nice to talk to you.
That was international geopolitical analyst Jeffrey Miller. It is twenty
one past six years News TALKSZBB. For more from hither
Duplassy Allen Drive, listen live to News talks 'b from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Maria has texted me and thank you very much for
texting me. Maria. I'm going back to the sports huddle
here just before the news and we were talking about
Nadala and how he is retiring at the end of
the year and things, and there was a bit of
a snide comment about well, one of my contributors said, well,
when did he win something last? And Maria has just
made the point. Only two years ago, twenty twenty two,
(00:21):
he won the French Open. So thank you very much
for pointing that out. We deserve a bit of a
serve for that. You'd think that miss sports huddle would
know that, but you know, there we go, just giving
a bit of kudos back to nadal There right a
step forward for New Zealand's relations with India. The Prime
Minister Christopher Luxen is in last for the East Asia Summit,
(00:42):
where today he met with India's Prime Minister Nearendi Modi,
who invited him to visit India in the new year.
Luxon says New Zealand's relationship with India is moving in
the right direction, with the two discussing trade and other
ways to work together. Pre election national pledge to secure
a free trade deal with India. But this is the
first face to face the prime ministers have had. International
(01:06):
geopolitical analyst Jeffrey Miller joins me now on this good evening, Jeffrey.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Good evening, Franchesca, what what have they.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Talked about in this meeting?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Look, I think this is the first face to face meeting,
so it will be very much getting to know each
other and just setting the ground for that visit by
Christopher Luxen to indian which is going to come early
next year. So I guess that was the real wind
to come out of this meeting, the confirmation of an
invitation to visit India.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
For Christopher Luxen, it's really just an opportunity to say, yes,
we'd be happy to have some conversations in the future,
isn't it Jeffrey.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Essentially, yes, it's the beginning of the conversation. And a
free trade deal is a very long way away. This
is a marathon, not a sprint when it comes to India.
I mean, Christopher Luxin is right to focus on India
as one of his foreign policy priorities. He makes the
point that India is going to be the third biggest
economy by twenty thirty. It's already the world's most populous nation.
It's the leader arguably of the global South. So yes,
(02:08):
India should absolutely be in the mix. At the same time,
India's the two way trade that New Zealand has with
India is less than ten percent of what New Zealand
has with China, and that's a relationship which is hugely
important to New Zealand. And Yet Christopher Luxen didn't have
a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in last and Winston
(02:29):
Peters didn't meet with his Chinese counterpart of the UN
a couple of weeks ago, unlike Australia's Penny Wong. So
I think that perhaps is a crisis brewing when it
comes to New Zealand's engagement or that thereof with China,
because there's absolutely no visit on the horizon for Christopher
Luxe into China, or a visit even by Winston Peter's
the Foreign and to start and we're one year into
(02:50):
this government now, I find that quite concerning.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Nikay, Do you think that this meeting takes a bit
of a focus off our relationship with China.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Well, look, it's clear that this government wants to refocus
News Evan's International Relations. We've seen the move towards Australia
and the United States, the fact that New Zealand is
becoming interested in joining Pillar two of August. So that's
the context we're operating in, and clearly China is something
that is a bit difficult to handle for New Zealand.
(03:17):
We had that very positive visit by Lee Chang, the
Chinese Premier, back in June, but since then, Christopher Luxon
has actually taken a fairly hawkish turn, you would say.
He attended the NATO summit in July, he gave quite
a hawkish speech in to the Lowe Institute in Sydney
back in August, and also hiked visa fees. Now that's
(03:38):
applied to all nationals, but China is one of our
biggest tourism markets and I think they would have taken
it as something of a slight given that they provided
visa free access to New Zealand's citizens for tourism at
that meeting back in June, when Lee Chang, the Chinese Premier,
came to New Zealand. So I think there's a crisis
brewing in some ways with China. I think New Zeven
(03:59):
really needs to step up its engagement with China while
not overlooking opportunities of the future when it comes to India.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And you can do both right, I mean, you know,
as you say, it's always a bit difficult and a
fine line dealing with China, but they are an important
trade partner and we have to be able to do
hard things, Jeffrey, we you can't just go on.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It's difficult, indeed, and absolutely that the truths here. Look,
New Zealand has thirty eight billion dollars worth of two
way trade with China. There are biggest trading partner by far.
I find it quite concerning that it was not a
priority to meet with Lee Chang at the Stages summit
and rebalance New Zealand's relations to some degree. You know,
(04:41):
New Zealand's often said that New Zealand players walks as
tightrope or has this balancing act. But there's not a
lot of balancing up going on at the moment. It
seems to be largely one way, one way traffic. New
Zealand diversifying its relations away from China, you know, that
is a big risk for New zeal I think if
New Zealand doesn't get its relations with China back on
(05:03):
an even keel, you know at some point there may
be some repercussions in New zealandterfaith.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Any other outtakes from the Summitch that you have diffree well.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I thought one comment was really interesting by Christopher Luxon
at the media stand up today, and it was he
had absolutely no intention of meeting Serge Lover of the
Russian Foreign Minister at the meeting. I think that's really
interesting when you look at this wider context of Christopher
Luxe and being happy to meet Narendra Modi, the Indian
Prime Minister, because of course India talks to everyone. India
(05:34):
has good relations with Russia, good relations with Western countries overall.
I think New Zealand is a small state, absolutely has
the power to play this role in terms of dialogue, diplomacy,
de escalation. And actually I don't think it's that helpful
to just say I don't want to talk to Sege
Lover of the Russian Foreign Minister while he's got the
opportunity to do so. I think he should and put
(05:55):
New Zealand's position when it comes to war in Ukraine
and at least have a conversation and keep some dialogue
open with Russia while he had the opportunity. I mean,
you can argue he shouldn't go out of his way
to meet his Russian counterparts, but I think it's a
bit it's a bit silly actually, just to say no,
I don't want to go and talk to him. I
won't talk to him at all while I'm here.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Okay, And look, finally, do you think Christopher Laximith's meeting
with more global counterparts than Chris Hopkins did or is
my memory just fading or is it also because he's
just so new in the PM seat.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, I went through the list of his foreign trips
this year that Chris re Fluxeen has made, and we're
up to already, I think trip number eleven, which is
quite know, I think quite something, or might be over
the year since he became Prime Minister, and might include
those ones at the end of last year. But either way,
that's a significant number of trips. And it's quite clear
that Christopher Luxeon does prioritize international relations and foreign policy.
(06:50):
I think that's a good thing for New Zealand. I
think it's good that Winston Peters of course, is prioritizing
traveling as well. He's tried to get to every country
in the Pacific Islands for and I think you've managed
all of the countries now territories apart from New Caledonia,
but I'm sure you'll get there in the coming year.
(07:10):
So I think it's very good to prioritize just getting
out there, and especially after all that COVID period where
New Zealand just wasn't get and getting out there and
traveling enough when it comes to our Prime minister and
Foreign minister.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I appreciate your thoughts. Jeffrey, really nice to talk to you.
That was international geopolitical analyst Jeffrey Miller. It is twenty
one past six years News TALKSZBB. For more from hither
Duplassy Allen Drive, listen live to News talks 'b from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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