China is unlikely to just sit back and accept the ban. Photo/Getty Images.
China is unlikely to just sit back and accept the ban. Photo/Getty Images.
There's increasing interest in whether China retaliates in any way to the coalition government banning Huawei from Spark's 5G network.
Will NZ exporters find "paperwork" problems delay goods on Chinese wharves?
And will Chinese tourists and students be told a few unsavoury stories about life in New Zealand?
Or perhapsdiplomats will find their Chinese counterparts are "busy" and NZ politicians will be told their Chinese counterparts' diaries are unexpectedly full.
To underline China's importance, the Reserve Bank's latest revision of the trade weighted index — which weighs the NZ dollar against a basket of currencies — now gives the heaviest weighting to the yuan, overtaking the Australian dollar.
Meanwhile, every Foreign Affairs Minister gets to put their stamp on the direction of New Zealand's diplomatic efforts.
Winston Peters is no different with his Pacific Reset and opening new posts around the world. But he does tend to nostalgia in some areas: one of Peters' latest moves is the newly created role of "Special Envoy for Commonwealth Trade Integration".
On the other hand, Commonwealth member India — the world's fastest growing economy, soon to overtake the UK as the fifth largest — is a major roadblock to NZ being part of the planned Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, of which India is a major part.
