Ambassador trading more than goodwill

By FRAN O'SULLIVAN

Chinese Ambassador Chen Mingming has big ambitions for the Asian giant's relationship with New Zealand.

Chen has gained a public profile in New Zealand that outstrips his ambassadorial predecessors and that of many other present members of the diplomatic corps.

Whether protesting inaction over the plight of Chinese students caught up by language school collapses or taking issue with Falun Gong's protests - Chen has never been one to shy from making China's point. And forcefully.

But he is also a skilled player on the Wellington Beltway, befitting a man who has spent much of his career dealing with China's relationship with the US.

The relationship between China and New Zealand has been transformed since the arrival of Chen, fresh from a key role as Deputy Director-General of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's powerful department of North American affairs, in 2001.

The goodwill between the two countries was already excellent.

The new Ambassador was particularly struck by how firmly New Zealand adhered to the One China policy - "that is very important to us".

But even the normally implacable Chen has been astounded by the rapid development in fields ranging from trade, high technology industries, tourism and New Zealand's booming Chinese foreign students' industry, which "has now peaked".

Last year China-New Zealand trade reached US$1.8 billion - a 30 per cent increase over the previous year. A free trade deal between China and New Zealand is being fast-tracked.

Chen points to three key factors: A strong mandate by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Helen Clark from their October meeting ("a landmark event"), New Zealand's support for China's membership of the World Trade Organisation - the "first Western nation to sign a China accession agreement", and the fact that the Clark Government does not dispute China's status as a market economy.

Chen reveals the idea of a free trade deal "was not taken seriously" until the eve of Hu's visit. "But now we are moving full steam ahead."

But, he cautions, much depends on the Government: "If it pushes hard enough and really takes full advantage of the momentum, there is a strong chance New Zealand will be the first Western nation to get a free trade deal with China.

"My impression is the Government is giving a lot of priority to it.

"But I am not sure if the dairy, pastoral farming and forestry industries groups have lobbied the Government hard enough.

"For New Zealand it is natural that you will want greater access to China's markets for your pastoral dairy products, forestry products and meat. China wants to see tariffs against our manufactured goods lowered - but I'm not an expert on this."

Chen compares the New Zealand business reaction to his earlier posting in Washington DC.

"US business is so very active in promoting their agenda."

There is growing Chinese interest in New Zealand's pastoral farming practices - (every week the embassy receives inquires about purchasing NZ dairy cattle).

In 2002 there was not a single order, but last year China ordered 8000 dairy cattle as the Chinese people moved to a more balanced diet.

He stresses New Zealand is in a unique position to take advantage of China's huge demand for dairy products.

"Actually the cheese sold in the Big Mac in Beijing is from New Zealand ... and the top-quality icecream bars in Beijing are made with New Zealand milk powder."

Chinese interest in New Zealand is across the board - from farming to environmental protection, but also "interestingly in the training of civil servants".

New Zealand's reputation for a corruption-free civil service has also reached China. Leading Communist Party official He Guoqiang last week visited New Zealand to study how civil servants are trained as part of ensuring his country builds a public service which is dedicated to China.

Chen arrived in Wellington only two weeks after the April 2001 mid-air collision between a Chinese F-8 fighter plane and a US Navy surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea.

"It was a very gruelling experience for my successor," recalls Chen.

"I watched the events unfold and was thinking to myself that if I had been back home what a challenge it would have been."

Soon afterwards, while the air collision business was still not settled, a very senior Chinese military group delegation headed by the Chinese defence minister, plus seven generals ("one-third of China's military command") came to New Zealand.

"When he [the defence minister] came out of the PM's office, he was met by a lot of local reporters," chuckles Chen.

"But they were only interested in one thing.

"He was real calm and said 'first of all Americans should share responsibility for this' and then that he 'believed the matter would be resolved by diplomatic negotiations' - no fuss." The delegation then went to Auckland's Whenuapai airbase, "where we were let on to a reconnaissance plane - exactly the same type of plane that was landed in China - it was here for American patrol".

"I was quite surprised by the complete transparency of the New Zealand defence forces," said Chen.

"We were shown everything - every question asked was responded to with clarity."

The visiting delegation was left with a clear impression of New Zealand's commitment to the United Nations and multilateral processes.

With China seeking to play a bigger role in global peacekeeping itself, they came away with the view that they could learn a lot from New Zealand's experiences.

Now Chinese military officers study at the defence force's staff college - there are




Trading more

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bilateral naval visits - the Chinese military have even been on the hunt for New Zealand coaches to teach their teams rugby.

"Last year China sent a team to play in the Rugby Sevens in Wellington, but they were quite inexperienced - it was a learning experience."

Chen's background is typical of his generation.

He was born in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province and the trading centre of the northern part of northeast China, in 1950.

With a senior official for a father and a doctor mother, the eldest in a family of five enjoyed a relatively privileged childhood.

But like most of his generation Chen was strongly affected when former Chairman Mao Zedong launched his Cultural Revolution. He joined the Red Guard while at high school, but that came to a quick end when his father was branded a "capitalist roader".

It was a time of chaos. Schools and universities were closed. China's youth was urged to destroy old customs, old thinking and culture, leading to a huge outpouring of violence and the purging of key figures such as Deng Xiaoping.

"All the officials who were targeted were overthrown from power during the Cultural Revolution by the Red Guards," recalls Chen.

"First I became Red Guard then a couple months later my dad became the target of the Red Guard ... I quit and went to the farm."

Chen was sent to a state-owned farm in Northern Manchuria - the oldest such farm in China. For the first time he saw a tractor working the wheatfields.

Nearly 40 years on, he looks back on his three-year posting without animosity: "We had no bitterness about that - I think that's a very important experience for life.

"Most of us valued that experience because for city boys like us to be in daily touch with the peasants, to know about conditions in China's countryside - that was important."

The tide turned in the early 1970s as the moderate factions regained power in the Communist Party's leadership.

In 1973 Chen "had the opportunity to be picked up" to study foreign languages at the Beijing Foreign Languages University.

"I grabbed at it ... I learned my English during the Cultural Revolution," he laughs.

As an English major, Chen had access to Western news, literature and, importantly, ideas. He was also allowed to listen to Voice of America and the BBC.

He graduated in 1977 and became an interpreter in the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

"I had the opportunity to interpret for senior leaders like Deng Xiaoping [who had been returned to power] and his colleagues like Hu Yaobang," said Chen. He also interpreted at meetings with foreign dignitaries such as Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad.

"I was able to observe historical events as they occurred."

In 1987 he was posted to Washington DC to be a first secretary and assistant to the Chinese Ambassador.

"We had to deal with the fallout of Tiananmen Square."

The end of the Cold War was fast approaching, but the June 1989 massacre had horrified the Western world.

President George Bush senior sent National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft to Beijing to meet China's leaders.

"I was the contact with the White House," recalls Chen.

"Only the Ambassador and myself knew what was going on."

Chen also acted as the contact between China and Saudi Arabia over negotiations for normal relations.

The US-China relationship was fraught during the three years Chen spent in Washington.

"It was full of ups and downs - setbacks - from one crisis to another ... but at the same time trade relations between China and the US were soaring to a double-digit rate.

"Before we realised it, China became the top trade partner of the United States."

From his Wellington base, Chen keeps closely in touch with US affairs. He found a lecture at the US Embassy by a visiting editor from Atlantic Monthly particularly illuminating.

"He said right after 9/11 the Bush Administration decided to go after Iraq, whether there was any ammunition of mass destruction or not - they felt this was the enemy we need to get rid of."

Chen admires the Clark Government's stance on Iraq, its independent foreign policy and emphasis on multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation.

Clark's decision not to follow Australia into the war on Iraq, which China had resisted from its seat on the UN Security Council, is seen as a plus in Beijing. But China's human rights record, its adherence to one-party rule, and its fractious relationship with Taiwan do cause tensions in the relationship.

Asked if there was a single factor that could fracture the relationship, Chen pointed to Taiwan and China's insistence on the One China policy.

"As a country with a strong interest in peace and stability in East Asia, New Zealand should continue to advocate a One China policy.

"When the Taiwanese authorities know there is a strong international view that there should not be escalation of tension across the Taiwan Straits, perhaps they will move more cautiously - and New Zealand can play its part in that.

"We hope that the Taiwan leaders will talk about these issues between the Chinese, and not create a standoff by trying to create an independent state and drag the Chinese nation into war - that's a terrible prospect and the last thing we want."

* Next Thursday: Acting Israeli ambassador Orna Sagiv.