2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterHon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Has New Zealand's relationship with China deteriorated under her Government?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): No. There is no question that an economic and people-to-people relationship with China is incredibly important to New Zealand. Visitor numbers in the last year are up 8.4 percent. There's also been an increase in goods exports by 20 percent in the year to September. That demonstrates the strength of our economic engagement and I would also say demonstrates the importance of a bipartisan approach to our relationship.Hon Simon Bridges: Are five of her Ministers currently seeking visits to China and are they currently waiting for agreement from China to visit?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: It's fair to say that we have had a number of invitations over the last year. In fact to be more explicit the Minister of Foreign Affairs visited in May the Minister for Climate Change visited in July the Minister of Education visited in July the Minister of Forestry visited in September the Minister of Research Science and Innovation visited in September and the Minister for Trade and Export Growth visited in November.Hon Simon Bridges: Are five of her Ministers currently seeking visits to China and are they currently waiting for agreement from China to visit?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As is demonstrated by the number of Ministers that have been of course we have ongoing engagement and at any given time there will be a number of Ministers working through their next visits.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she know how long those five Ministers have been waiting for agreement to visit?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again as I've said at any given time there may be a number who are working through the logistics of visits. We've had six that have been already and we may well have five intending to visit in the near future.Hon Simon Bridges: Is it the case that these Ministers have not yet been granted visas and why is that?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again as I have answered in previous questions we have a number who have been and there will no doubt be a number who intend to go in the future.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Could the Prime Minister elaborate on her comments yesterday about the collapse of New Zealand's hitherto foreign policy consensus?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Absolutely happy to because I do think this is an important point. New Zealand for a number of years has rightly had an independent foreign policy line that is in the best interests of New Zealand economically in terms of national security and in terms of its values. That has generally been followed by both the Government of the day and the Opposition. It's disappointing that in recent times we have seen the politicisation of our relationship which sits directly in contradiction to our economic interests and our national security interests.Hon Simon Bridges: When the last Government Minister to go to China David Parker visited last year did he secure a meeting with his equivalent ministerial counterpart?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I do not have in front of me the individual bilateral engagements of every Minister who has visited in recent times. But let us speak frankly in this House: there are challenges in our relationship. There are challenges in our relationships with a number of countries at any given time when you run an independent foreign policy. My question to the Opposition would be this: we stand by our decisions particularly as they relate to the use of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Act (TICSA) and the scrutiny of any telecommunications vendor in the national security interests of New Zealanders; would the Opposition do the same? That is my question to the Leader of the Opposition.Hon Simon Bridges: Is it the case then that things are getting better with the relationship with China as the Prime Minister said in answer to the primary or that there are significant challenges as she just said? Which is true?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: If the member chooses to look at foreign policy in such a simplistic way then he's going to run up against some challenges. I think the answer that I've given demonstrates that our economic relationship is both incredibly important to us but also very strong. That is not mutually exclusive from us having challenges from time to time and that is the case with the likes of for instance our relationship with Australia.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is it true that the Government's position is to treat every nation and every people fairly politely equally and respectfully and would never say for example what a member of this House said—that Two Chinese are better than two Indians."?SPEAKER: Order! The Prime Minister can answer the first part of the question; the second part is not her responsibility.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Absolutely. Respect is an incredibly important part of our relationship. New Zealand has a long history of ensuring that we do speak directly with our counterparts where we have areas of concern and we have continued that foreign policy position.Hon David Parker: Can the Prime Minister confirm that when I visited China as Minister of Trade and Export Growth in November last year I met with Vice Minister Wang from the Chinese administration who is responsible for both the World Trade Organization negotiations on the part of China and for the bilateral trade relationship with New Zealand?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes I can.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she agree with her Foreign Minister's former comments that "Two Wongs don't make a white."?SPEAKER: Order! There's no part of that that the Prime Minister's responsible for and I am going to warn both the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Prime Minister that I consider they knew that both of their comments were outside the Standing Orders and therefore were deliberately disorderly. I will treat deliberate disorder of that sort more seriously going forward.Hon Simon Bridges: When will her Foreign Minister the Rt Hon Winston Peters next visit China?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Obviously I've already referenced the fact that he visited in May 2018. I haven't asked him about his forward intentions for visits there or in fact about any other of our engagements. But let us in this House speak frankly. I do not resile from the position that this Government has taken in support of our independent foreign policy our economic interests and our national security interests. My question for the Opposition is this: will they uphold the TICSA legislation they introduced or are they willing to trade away our interests for the sake of the politicisation of our relationships?Hon Simon Bridges: Is the Prime Minister in that answer tacitly acknowledging that her Ministers aren't getting visits to China anymore?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No. I am calling out the playing politics of our relationships.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she have a date set yet for when she will visit China?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again I have spoken openly about the fact that I have received an invitation but it's quite obvious that I have not yet visited. But again I stand by every decision that we have made and that the GCSB has independently made. It seems to me that the Opposition does not.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she have a date set yet for when she will next visit China?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I've already answered that question but I will point out that I have met already with both the President and the Premier.Hon Simon Bridges: Is any progress being made on her visit to China as Prime Minister?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again as I've already pointed out I have already had high-level engagement at the highest level where in fact the Premier the last time we met talked about his invitation to me to visit. But again I do not measure the strength of our relationship in such binary terms. We have—[Interruption] Our people-to-people exchanges have increased—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! I'm going to interrupt the Prime Minister and ask people on both sides to settle down. I think all of us know that this is a very important issue and I don't want any confusion through people not being able to hear. So that includes people from not far away behind the Prime Minister. No don't look round Mr Jones.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I said our people-to-people exchanges have increased as have our exports. Those are equally incredibly important measures.Hon Simon Bridges: When the Prime Minister effectively blames the TICSA and the Huawei decision for the complexity of the relationship does she also have a view on whether the foreign Minister's comments on the Belt and Road Initiative the defence strategy paper of New Zealand and his Georgetown speech have also contributed to the deterioration in relationships between New Zealand and China?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I absolutely reject that. But again if the Opposition is now taking a different view on some of those issues like for instance the South China Sea I'd be very interested to hear that.Hon Simon Bridges: In light of the fact that she hadn't read that Georgetown speech before it was delivered does she confirm that she agrees with all of its contents today?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The Deputy Prime Minister's address acknowledged that the United States had taken a different foreign policy line in recent times and that it is in all of our interests if the United States continues to engage both at a regional level and with multilateral institutions. If the Opposition doesn't agree with that then that's a matter for them.Hon Simon Bridges: Just who is ultimately responsible for New Zealand's foreign affairs: the foreign Minister or Jacinda Ardern?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As is of course convention the Prime Minister and not the Leader of the Opposition.Hon Simon Bridges: Then why didn't she read the foreign Minister's incredibly significant speech to Georgetown University before he gave it?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We absolutely have agreeance on the principles of our position and our engagement both with the United States and with China and in past Governments there's equally been general agreeance around New Zealand's foreign policy interests between Government and Opposition as well. I was already aware of the principles contained in that speech.Hon James Shaw: Does the Prime Minister think that the relationship with China might be improved by say gifting a sheep farm to a wealthy businessman from that country?SPEAKER: Order! Order!Hon Simon Bridges: When she said recently at a Chinese event that I also attended that she fully supported the Belt and Road Initiative how is that consistent with comments her foreign Minister has made consistently bagging it?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: It's absolutely consistent. What the Deputy Prime Minister has pointed out is that the now Opposition signed an agreement without having put any infrastructure around it and that's a job that's been left to us.Hon Simon Bridges: Isn't the reality that she's post the events trying to cover up the mess he's making in relation to our China relationship?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Absolutely not."