Speech at the opening of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre

Speaker: Hon Wayne Mapp, Minister of Research, Science and Technology, and Associate Minister of Tertiary Education

Date: 14 April, 2009

Location: Hunter Building, Victoria University

I am particularly pleased to officially open the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre.

My colleague Tim Groser, the Minister of Trade, and I place the relationship with China at the highest possible order. So much of New Zealand's future prosperity will depend on China, and New Zealand's outlook on the world must take into account the Chinese dimension and Chinese aspirations. Today's occasion is significant for both our countries.

The partnership and collaboration demonstrated here today are essential to the relationship. These links tie our countries together in a deep and profound way. Professor Haotao Huang has commented that China's rise as a global power has profound implications for the world and New Zealand. It would be hard to imagine a more accurate statement than that, at the beginning of the 21st century. Everyone here today knows that China formed the first comprehensive free trade agreement. It is worth noting that at the time the agreement was signed, China was our fourth largest trading partner, but I am sure it will not be too many years before trade between China and New Zealand ends up being either first or second in rank.

It was actually quite a privilege to be a member of the Select Committee, along with Tim Groser, when we considered the agreement. Parliament gets to consider many trade agreements but we were aware of the fundamental importance of this particular agreement for the future prosperity of New Zealand. It was without question the most significant foreign affairs event of the last Parliament.

As you will know, trade by itself is never enough. New Zealanders in particular need a deeper awareness and understanding of China. As a country we need to grow our knowledge and skills in areas of marketing and business management in China, and in international law and international relations. So we do need to focus the knowledge and skills required by the business community and public sector agencies in order to bring that about.

Of course the Centre is also an expression of precisely that. As everyone knows, we have a long history of friendship with China extending back many decades. I know as the Member of Parliament for North Shore the impact of the immigration of Chinese nationals to New Zealand and the way that the character of Auckland in particular has changed as a city, and it is part and parcel of making Auckland a much more international city. It is a profound change and nowadays 24% of the population of Auckland was born overseas. A large percentage of those people are Chinese-born, and many live in the North Shore.

So as a consequence, collaborations at a human level, a trade level, a business level and at a government level are deepening and expanding, and we only need to think of the New Zealand Studies Centre at Peking University and the New Zealand-based Confucius Institute which provides study of the Chinese language. And I would also like to mention in my own particular area, that last month New Zealand and China signed the China-New Zealand Scientist Exchange programme.

This Centre will become an important source of knowledge-sharing and capability-building to the mutual benefit of both our countries. Centres of this nature (and I know this from my time in academia) enable deep insights to be drawn from the deep research which can only be done through universities, and which will enhance understanding, not just for the people attending the centre but also for the wider university community. The strengthening of links between tertiary education and economic development is becoming much sharper as we move further into the 21st century.

I congratulate the Centre for the work that has been done and for the forthcoming symposium. I should make it particularly clear that the Centre has the support of the New Zealand Government and the fact that my colleague Mr Groser, the Minister of Trade, is chairing the first session is indicative of deep interest in the relationship.

We expect the Centre to be able to improve the relationship between the two countries. We do hope that the Centre can provide pathways to look at opportunities for innovation, competitiveness and a deeper understanding of the business relationship and the ways of doing business both in China and in New Zealand. We look to the Centre to lay some of these foundations.

In conclusion, congratulations to the Centre: you are part of building what I believe to be one of the most strongest relationships New Zealand will have over the course of the next few decades - the relationship between the People's Republic of China and New Zealand.