China’s Xi Holds ‘Positive’ First Meeting With NZ Prime Minister

(Bloomberg) - China's President Xi Jinping has invited New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to visit Beijing in 2025, the latest move to stabilize relations with Western nations ahead of the return to power of US President-elect Donald Trump.

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Luxon said his first meeting with Xi, held during the APEC Summit in Peru on Friday, was "really productive and positive." He added that he raised New Zealand's concerns around China's recent test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Pacific.

Asked why Pacific nations had been concerned by the ICBM launch, Luxon said the September test had been the first in at least 44 years.

"It ended up just north of Tahiti," Luxon said, adding that some Pacific nations hadn't been warned in advance. "We have a history around nuclear testing in the Pacific. It's a really important issue."

Luxon said Xi invited him to visit China in the first half of 2025. The New Zealand prime minister came to power following an election in October 2023.

New Zealand is a close security partner of the US and a member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership along with Australia, Canada and the UK. Recently the Luxon government has been examining contributing to the Aukus security partnership through collaborating on research of critical technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Its economy is heavily reliant on its relationship with China, the country's largest trading partner, which bought at least NZ$20 billion ($12 billion) in goods and services last year.

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