China seeks to calm free-trade fears

China yesterday dismissed fears that a free-trade deal would lead to market disruption, piracy and harm to New Zealand workers.

Chen Mingming, China's ambassador to New Zealand, told the Inside the New China conference at Auckland that a deal would be good for both countries.

The next round of talks are due to be held in May.

Chen said China's demand for overseas agricultural products would remain strong, with the country changing from major exporter to major importer.

He accepted that many New Zealanders feared "market disruption" caused by a flood of Chinese products hitting the market.

But he said China had already shown in the textiles industry that it was responsible and knew that flooding the market with cheap goods was not in its best interests.

The second major concern was that intellectual property rights were not well protected in China. Chen accepted that software piracy was a problem in some cities, but said a free-trade deal would make it easier for New Zealand companies to do business in China.

Complaints about piracy should be taken up with authorities, and if that did not work, with the media.

A recent TVNZ news report had shown film of a Shanghai fruit peddler putting "Zespri" stickers on locally grown kiwifruit, which were then passed off as coming from New Zealand. Chen said he had sent a tape of the item back to China, where authorities combed Shanghai's fruit markets, tracking down peddlers selling illegally labelled fruit. They had all been "duly penalised".

Prime Minister Helen Clark told the conference that "business engagement" was now crucial to ensure that New Zealand made the most of opportunities presented by a free-trade agreement.

China's growth rate put it on track to becoming the world's second-largest economy by 2020.

Senior officials from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the conference that New Zealand should realise it was not the only country trying to get a slice of the Chinese economic boom.

Senior trade commissioner Merv Stark said other countries were "hot on our heels" in negotiating trade deals and there was only a "short window of opportunity" for New Zealand to take advantage of greater access to the market.

Booming business

* Over the past four years, NZ exports to China have risen an average $100 million a year. It is now our fourth-biggest export market.
* Forestry exports have quadrupled since 1999.
* Chinese tourism to New Zealand is growing at an average 31 per cent a year.
* The Government says a free-trade deal will boost exports by $260 million to $400 million a year.