Yang Jian: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Yang Jian: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 29 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4880. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr JIAN YANG (National) 
: 
Feichanghao. Xiexie. I am proud to be able to stand here today to say what a great job the National-led Government has done and is continuing to do in building a brighter future for New Zealanders. By getting on with the job of responsibly managing the Government’s finances building a more competitive and productive economy delivering better public services and rebuilding Christchurch National is delivering on making New Zealand the best place to live raise children and retire comfortably. 
I know that members of the Opposition will always dispute what we have achieved since we became the Government in 2008. It goes without saying that despite having experienced a global financial crisis which unfortunately is continuing in many parts of the world New Zealand is well positioned to grow and prosper. National has worked extremely hard to help the less fortunate in our society but more important National recognises that economic development is the key to giving people a better standard of living. 
In Chinese philosophy the concept of yin and yang describes how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are linked and how they feed off each other to balance and benefit each other. I am not referring to National’s relationship with Labour or the Greens but to our growing relationship with China the second-largest economy in the world. As you know New Zealand and China are so different in terms of land size history culture language and in particular population. There are over 1.3 billion in China against New Zealand’s population of 4.4 million yet we are moving closer together which will benefit both countries. 
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between our two countries. I have been to numerous events to commemorate this auspicious year and many of these events are organised by local Chinese communities in New Zealand who are proud of both their mother country and their adopted country. China’s continuous growth has benefited New Zealand as our trade with China has expanded enormously. In 1991 New Zealand’s exports to China were just $0.17 billion or 1.1 percent of our total exports. In 2001 they were $1 billion or 3.3 percent of our total exports. In 2008 we signed a free-trade agreement with China. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Who signed? Who signed? 
Dr JIAN YANG 
: I will acknowledge the then Labour Government. Unfortunately the current Labour Party no longer has strategic views which are essential for economic growth. It is living in poverty—a poverty of ideas. For instance it no longer supports our foreign investment. After that agreement was signed in 2008 two-way trade between New Zealand and China grew by 150 percent in 3 years. In 2011 the volume of bilateral trade reached $13.3 billion. In the year ended March 2012 New Zealand exports to China reached $5.9 billion or 12.5 percent of our total exports. China is now our second-largest trading partner and may well be the largest before too long. 
We are also benefiting from an upsurge in Chinese tourists. In the year ended June 2012 Chinese tourists numbered 175000—a rise of about 43000 over the previous year. Tourism supports nearly one job in 10 in New Zealand and directly or indirectly contributes almost 10 percent of New Zealand GDP. Already ordinary New Zealanders are reaping the benefits of National’s economic plan which invests in their future. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.