China Business: Another busy day on the international circuit

Steven Joyce visits the Nuplex Factory in Changshu. Photo / Alexander Speirs

Government Minister Steven Joyce had less than three days in Shanghai for business and efficiency was the name of his game.

Joyce wears a number of hats, and is often switching between his portfolios of Economic Development, Science and Innovation, and Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment.

This was no better displayed than during his recent visit to China. Joyce moved seamlessly from promoting New Zealand business at the Shanghai Boat Show to talking international investment strategy with Nuplex, and learning about the future of cross-border education ventures at New York University in Shanghai.

Q: This is your fifth trip to China since becoming Minister - what has been your biggest take-away this time around?

This trip is definitely the maturing of the relationship - what I mean is the lift in our Government's and private sector resources that are being applied to the relationship. I think we're seeing a move from a trading relationship to one where we're on the ground and we're a part of China.

Q: With Australia signing its own Free Trade Agreement with China, what can we do to ensure we increase the value of our relationship and don't get pushed to the side?

By most countries' standards, we have a great relationship - particularly given our size - but we never take it for granted. Australia will want to take advantage of its own Free Trade Agreement and we should be able to help there. We should be able to have joint opportunities together, we've learnt things which may be helpful to them, and Australia can undoubtedly be useful to us. While I don't think it will ever get to the stage of joint trade missions, because we're different, we are 28 million people combined, and next door neighbours who are pretty small by world standards. We should do what we do well in New Zealand - collaborate to take advantage of each other's knowledge and experience.

Q: There are clearly areas where New Zealand is performing well in China, but where could we look to be doing better?

I think our food and beverage companies are learning that they have to be on the ground directly and involved themselves. That's changing the landscape and they'd probably all agree they should do it faster.

That's one thing we definitely have to do more of. We are still fairly under-done in the high-tech space, and tend to look more towards America and Europe in that area. I think in the long term as China gets more focused on innovation and moves up the value curve, we either become a part of that and help shape it, or we get run over by the steam roller eventually.

We are getting some good investment from China and we are seeing some good examples of New Zealand companies succeeding in China with their investments. But it's about the long haul - there are not many overnight successes, and we've got to keep learning the lessons on how we invest in China.