This Prime Minister is not too cold, his first visit to China during his tenure | New Zealand | Prime Minister

Author: Wang Zhening, Zheng Aotian, Mao Yufei

On June 25th, New Zealand Prime Minister Hopkins led a delegation to Beijing and began a 5-day trip to China.

Hopkins' visit to China this time has been very rich in itinerary. In addition to high-level meetings with Chinese leaders, he will also participate in a series of corporate partnership activities, give keynote speeches at Peking University, attend the 14th Summer Davos Forum, and launch tourism partnership projects.

This is the first visit of the Prime Minister of New Zealand to China since 2019, and also the first visit of Hopkins to China during his tenure as Prime Minister, which has attracted much attention.

On January 19, 2023, Aden suddenly announced his resignation as Prime Minister, and Hopkins took over. At that time, he emphasized that visiting China was one of his "priority tasks". "The scheduled visit to China indicates that Hopkins himself is also full of expectations for this trip," Sun Chang, assistant researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asia and Oceania at the China Institute of Modern International Relations, analyzed to Global People reporters.

"China is a key part of New Zealand's economic recovery"

Promoting economic and trade cooperation between China and Singapore is an important highlight of Hopkins' visit.

According to recently released data, New Zealand's gross domestic product has experienced negative growth for two consecutive quarters. Since the beginning of this year, the economic situation in New Zealand has been sluggish, inflation has intensified, natural disasters such as floods have occurred frequently in Auckland and other areas, and the cost of living for the people has continued to rise.

Sun Chang said, "After taking office, Hopkins made domestic livelihood and economic recovery the top priority of his administration." Previously, Hopkins stated, "China is a key part of New Zealand's economic recovery. China accounts for nearly 1/4 of all our exports, making it our second largest source of tourists before the pandemic and an important source of our students."

During his visit to China, he focused on seeking to revitalize trade relations between the two countries and attract Chinese tourists to return.

·Hopkins.

This is also reflected in the size of Hopkins' delegation to China. Among the delegation members, there are high-ranking officials such as the Minister of Trade and Export Growth, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Tourism in New Zealand, as well as representatives from well-known New Zealand companies such as Air New Zealand, Fonterra, Jiapei, and Laimei. There are also representatives from the champion team of this year's National Maori War Dance Competition in New Zealand. Hopkins stated that this tribe will help promote New Zealand's image as a world-class tourist destination.

Before Hopkins even set off, his visit to China became a hot topic of discussion in New Zealand. At the local celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival, people eagerly discussed Hopkins' trip.

The New Zealand Embassy in China is hosting a business dinner in Beijing. Some entrepreneurs engaged in New China trade are eager to share invitation letters, hoping that Hopkins' visit to China can inject new vitality into bilateral economic and trade exchanges.

·Hopkins.

The prosperous trade between Singapore and China is beneficial for Hopkins to solve domestic economic problems. 2023 is New Zealand's election year. As the only candidate nominated by the Labour Party of New Zealand, Hopkins' main competitor is the leader of the New Zealand National Party, Robinson. Sun Chang said that Luxen has served as the CEO of Air New Zealand and has extensive experience. Polls show that the support rate of the National Party was once higher than that of the Labour Party by 5%.

"There are less than four months left until the election, and Hopkins will benefit from this visit," former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said in an interview with Australia's Associated Press.

"The Prime Minister is' public property '"

Hopkins is a down-to-earth prime minister. He often refers to himself as an ordinary boy from Hart.

Hopkins was born in the Hart Valley area in the suburbs of Wellington, which is a traditional light industrial area with underdeveloped economy. His parents are also ordinary people.

He often reminisces about his childhood with warmth: "I never thought I was a wealthy child, but my brothers and I grew up in love and encouragement. I believe there is no greater wealth than this." Even today, the Hopkins family still lives in the Hart Valley area.

The warm upbringing environment gave Hopkins a strong sense of family values. In 2008, he was one of the first male ministers to extend paternity leave due to the birth of his second child.

After taking office as Prime Minister, Hopkins stated that he had become "public property" but did not want his family to be affected as well. In an interview, he said, "I hope my children have the opportunity to make mistakes. I want them to learn and grow from their mistakes without worrying about having 5 million people watching their every move. I want them to live outside the public eye."

During his student years, Hopkins excelled academically and served as the president of the student union in both high school and university. In 1996, a high school classmate of Hopkins launched a survey to determine who was most likely to become the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and he received the first vote.

During his freshman year at Victoria University in Wellington, Hopkins experienced his first turning point in life: in September 1997, he was arrested by the police for participating in a protest against rising tuition fees. When talking about this past, he said that the arrest was an "important moment" in his life, and it was his first close contact with politics.

He also humorously said, "At the Wellington Police Department, I found myself quite enjoying Her Majesty's hospitality." Here, the Queen refers to the British Queen, who also serves as the Head of State of New Zealand. Hopkins is joking about her brief experience of "going to jail.".

Sun Chang said that the arrest incident had a significant impact on Hopkins' life path and ultimately led him to enter politics. Shortly after graduating from university, he entered parliament and served as a policy advisor to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

In 2008, at the age of 30, Hopkins was elected as a member of parliament in the Rimtata constituency. In the following 15 years, he held important positions in the New Zealand Labour Party, government cabinet, and parliament, and had a strong voice in party and parliamentary affairs. Due to his expertise in solving thorny political problems, Hopkins was known as a "repair expert" within the Labour Party.

Hopkins is very concerned about education. In 2008, he stated that he wanted to ensure that "every school is an excellent school, and every teacher is an excellent teacher.". In 2017, Hopkins was appointed as the Minister of Education, and relevant policies were successively introduced: raising the standards of college student allowances and living loans, gradually achieving free education in universities; Reviewing the New Zealand Certificate Examination system in an attempt to avoid excessive assessment of students; Reduce the workload of teachers, etc.

A New Zealand legislator commented that Hopkins is kind, concise, and very familiar with the government's operational mechanisms.

Hopkins also said, "There are many talented people in New Zealand politics, but they don't understand how to make the government machine work according to their ideas. I'm not a perfect person, but I've figured this out."

·Hopkins.

Friendly "Daiji" Dad

During the COVID-19 epidemic, Hipkins became the most familiar face of New Zealanders because of his "clumsiness".

In November 2020, he was appointed as the newly established Minister for Response to COVID-19. Shortly after taking office, he introduced the "traffic light" epidemic prevention policy, regularly conducting dynamic evaluations of epidemics in various regions of the country, and formulated three epidemic levels of red, yellow, and green, implementing epidemic prevention policies tailored to local conditions. At the same time, he also actively promoted COVID-19 vaccination in the whole society. With his efforts, the epidemic in New Zealand has been well controlled, and his work ability has also been recognized by society.

At the same time, the self deprecating "clumsiness" of Hopkins also added a lot of laughter to the anti epidemic life of New Zealanders. In August 2021, Hopkins encouraged New Zealanders living in densely populated areas to exercise outdoors during a regular pandemic press conference. However, he referred to "stretching legs and feet with everyone" as "stretching legs and feet with everyone". This slip of the tongue quickly became a hot topic online. Hopkins admitted a slip of the tongue and smiled helplessly, saying, "The media will definitely make a big joke out of this.".

Interestingly, Hipkins' slip of the tongue actually made many New Zealanders fall in love with him. Many netizens expressed that they didn't expect to be able to "smile" while watching the government's press conference. Many people also post videos of themselves doing "splits" on social media platforms, stating that they are "actively following the government's advice" and "stretching their legs, rather than spreading the virus.".

Sun Chang said that during the COVID-19, Hipkins sometimes made small accidents such as being late and making a slip of the tongue at press conferences, but he did not shy away from his "imperfection" and often sincerely "reviewed". This slightly reckless but close to voters attitude won him more favor.

Hopkins has a nickname "Chippy", derived from the first letter of his name, indicating "optimistic and slightly studious behavior.". For example, New Zealanders know that Hopkins' favorite foods are sausage rolls and zero degree cola. When attending a hearing, he always prepares a small can of cola for himself. In 2022, Hopkins' birthday gift was a huge sausage roll.

Some New Zealand media have also stated that Hopkins is like a "friendly 'Daisy' dad.". "Daiji" is a New Zealand slang term that often refers to middle-aged men who dress casually and are not well-groomed.

After Aden announced his resignation, local media quickly approached Hopkins and wanted to interview him. At that time, Hopkins was exercising, wearing a black hoodie, a duckbill cap, and sunglasses. He said to the reporter, "Don't interview me while I'm wearing sportswear, it's unfair."

This interview quickly made Hopkins' outfits go viral. The Labour Party auctioned off his hat and sunglasses on its website, with the slogan: "Wearing this outfit, you can audition for the seventh season of the TV series' The Western Regions' or become the Prime Minister of New Zealand."

"Let's work together and have a full meal."

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972, China Singapore relations have been steadily developing. Last year, the two countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and next year will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Singapore.

For over half a century, the two countries have created multiple firsts. New Zealand is the first developed Western country to end bilateral negotiations with China on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, recognize China's full market economy status, and sign bilateral free trade agreements with China. Multiple "firsts" have not only benefited the two countries and their peoples, but also made positive contributions to regional peace, stability, and prosperity.

Before Hopkins' visit, Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand, Wang Xiaolong, published a signed article in The New Zealand Herald summarizing the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, citing a New Zealand Maori proverb - "Let's work together and have a full meal."

The Chinese and Singapore economies are highly complementary. "New Zealand has high-quality dairy and meat products, with China serving as a major seller. The bilateral trade volume between the two countries has increased from 7 million Singapore dollars at the beginning of diplomatic relations to over 40 billion Singapore dollars in 2022. Since 2013, China has been New Zealand's largest trading partner. During this visit to China, Hopkins hopes to continue deepening economic and trade cooperation with China in more fields such as clean energy and electric vehicles," said Sun Chang.

The friendship between the Chinese and Singaporean people has a long and lasting history. Although the two countries are far apart from each other, more than 180 years ago, Chinese people came to New Zealand and they and their descendants made contributions to the social development of New Zealand.

In 2017, China and Singapore signed the "the Belt and Road" cooperation document, and the connectivity of the "Air Silk Road" has promoted the cooperation in humanities, tourism and other aspects between the two places. In 2019, the opening ceremony of the "China New Zealand Tourism Year" was grandly held at the National Museum of New Zealand, followed by various cultural exchange activities held in both countries.

"From the perspective of resuming cultural exchanges after the epidemic, Hopkins' visit to China this time also has profound significance. We believe that through dialogue, the influence of the 'national brand' will be further enhanced, which will also play a role in promoting cultural exchanges," said Sun Chang.

Sun Chang said, "Over the past 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have continuously enriched and expanded the depth and breadth of their cooperation. They are very good partners for each other. As two countries with different systems and cultures, to some extent, the reason why China and New Zealand have achieved the same level of success in various fields today is due to our adherence to the principle of win-win cooperation and seeking common ground while reserving differences."

"Although New Zealand is a developed Western country and a member of the 'Five Eyes Alliance', it can maintain its own position on important issues, has independent judgment, and does not simply dance with small groups. This is an important guarantee for China and New Zealand to maintain good cooperation."

Hopkins' China policy is the inheritance and continuation of New Zealand's attitude towards China. "At the press conference, Hopkins stated that he would continue to work hard to establish a mature China Singapore relationship and not let differences define bilateral relations. This visit to China once again sends a signal of mutual cooperation and seeking common ground while reserving differences."

·Aden and Hopkins.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key believes that Hopkins' visit will further consolidate the relationship between the two countries. He said that in recent years, some Western countries have distanced themselves from Beijing and "demonized" China. Due to the "Five Eyes Alliance", New Zealand has approached the United States and Australia, but this does not mean that we cannot establish a successful trade based relationship with China. This has given us a certain degree of positive influence in China, and those who choose to "throw stones" have not.

"The United States has adjusted its Indo Pacific layout and further wooed allies. Under the pressure of the United States, New Zealand has been under certain pressure. However, in its interactions with China, New Zealand continues to adhere to the policy of seeking common ground while reserving differences, which not only aligns with its own interests but also demonstrates a strong demand for stability in international relations. I believe that in the future, under the theme of peace and development, China Singapore relations will continue to overcome difficulties and improve," said Sun Chang.