John Luxton: We're a way off accepting Asians as equals

We are more ambivalent about imports and immigration, although positive feelings about the latter have increased over the years. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The Asia New Zealand Foundation has been surveying New Zealanders about their attitudes towards Asia for nearly two decades, capturing an evolving picture of our responses to demographic and economic changes.

Over that time, the Perceptions of Asia surveys have found New Zealanders feel most positive about Asia when it comes to what we can sell, be it dairy products or tourism. We are more ambivalent about imports and immigration, although positive feelings about the latter have increased over the years.

The latest survey shows a growing recognition of the need to truly engage with Asia. One sign of this is the finding that, aside from English, Chinese is now seen as the most valuable language for children to learn.

This doesn't mean every child should be compelled to learn Chinese. Nor does it mean that Asian languages should come at the expense of te reo Maori. But the overall numbers of students studying Asian languages needs to increase and access needs to be equitable.

The survey also finds a growing acceptance of Asian people as part of the fabric of New Zealand life. But while Kiwis have become more connected to Asian people, they are more hesitant about the value of Asian business interests. The survey finds some concern about investment from Asia and about the perceived impact of Asian purchases on house prices. This is not surprising, given the prominence of such issues in the media and public debate. But context is too often lacking from the discussions.

Data on foreign ownership of housing is limited, making it difficult to get a clear picture of the impact of overseas buyers. Defining "foreign" is problematic; it could, for instance, include New Zealand citizens living offshore.

What is clear is that Asian New Zealanders continue to be at risk of being viewed as foreigners. The 2013 Census found nearly one in four Aucklanders belongs to the broad Asian ethnic grouping. This includes New Zealand-born people of Asian heritage, long-time residents of New Zealand, and more recent migrants. But in debates about the impact of "Asian buyers" on housing, there is rarely any distinction made.

Investment from Asia, and particularly mainland China, has been an emotive issue in recent years, for example in Shanghai Pengxin's purchase of dairy farms previously owned by the Crafar family. Notably, these farms were the winners of the Supreme Business Award at the BNZ New Zealand Chinese Business Awards, and now include 12 New Zealand farmers among their shareholders. Several million dollars of improvements have been added to those farms and their overall productivity has increased.

As chairman of DairyNZ as well as of the Asia New Zealand Foundation, I'm well aware of the positive impacts of investment. But the facts about overseas investment are not well understood.

In 2014, China's foreign direct investment in New Zealand was $642 million - less than one per cent of the total foreign direct investment. If you add together all investment from Asian countries in New Zealand, the sum is less than investment from Australia alone.

Fears of foreigners "buying up" New Zealand are nothing new. But investments by people of Asian ethnicity continue to attract more attention than those by buyers from Australia, Europe or the US. In discussions about investment, there is a need to guard against prejudice.

New Zealanders still aren't as familiar with the countries and cultures of Asia as they are with Australia, Europe or the US. This will need to change if we are going to engage confidently with Asian countries and their peoples as equals.

John Luxton is chairman of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.