Former New Zealand Prime Ministers Helen Clark and John Key greet Chinese Premier Xi Jinping at a military parade commemorating 80 years since the end of the eight-year Japanese invasion of China in 1937.
Contrary to those who believe otherwise, I applaud Helen Clark and Sir John Key for attending the Chinese parades etc celebrating 80 years since the end of World War II.
Both of the ex-PMs were invited. And China is a nation with whom we have enjoyed a long and rewarding friendship.
Sure, one may find the presence of Putin and Kim Jong Un unsettling, but they were there by dint of political system commonalities as much as anything.
Our political system is very different, but that doesn’t mean we should be discourteous.
The birth of our close relationship with China goes back to the gold mining days of the 1800s and then the advent of Rewi Alley in the 1920s.
Academics and politicians could do well to review those historic links rather than being constantly suspicious and super-critical.
Sure, China snoops into the affairs of other nations, probably ours included, but so does America and every other nation, large and small, friendly or otherwise.
John Pendreigh, Westmere.
Overcrowded cities
If immigration were reduced to just skills in serious shortage that are truly critical – like doctors and maybe nurses – that would help take pressure off housing and traffic.
Driving around Auckland, it seems to me the place is very full (and constricted by some 25 volcanic cones plus two harbours and numerous estuaries). That is, unless your benchmark is big cities as found in Asia and elsewhere.
Funny thing is that “economies of scale” of bigger-city infrastructure and housing are utterly incapable of solving cramped living, lacking decent backyards for kids and gardens, with high costs of housing, and congestion in public transport and on roads.
Take a few trips during rush-hour madness on the London Underground, trains in Paris or Kuala Lumpur. They do the job, but you had better enjoy being sardine-like over a quiet, peaceful Kiwi way of life.
The ring motorways around London and major arterials throughout the city are bumper-to-bumper crawls for two hours twice daily.
I wonder what another half-million in Auckland would do for traffic jams and high-rises next door? Maybe Santa could fix that.
Rod McIntyre, St Heliers.
Foreign ownership
Gary Hollis’ letter (NZ Herald, Sept 6) had me scratching my head.
He argues that the New Zealand economy does not gain any benefits from overseas people purchasing a $15 million home.
Hello? Wasn’t the initial purchase from a New Zealander who owned the home?
The simple arithmetic is that the person who sold the house to the “wealthy foreigner” is now $15m richer.
Perhaps the seller will go on to build a home somewhere in New Zealand. Will this not benefit our economy?
Brenda Barnes, St Heliers.
Cash in cones
Sixty-three million dollars spent on traffic management in a year in Auckland.
Estimating the amount of road cones I see when driving around the city, that must work out at about $1 a road cone.
But on a more serious note, it would be interesting to know who actually gets the money.
Not a bad business to be in, I believe.
Bob Wichman, Botany.
PMs at parade
In 2008, Prime Minister Helen Clark signed a free trade agreement with China. This agreement was fully supported by the National Government of John Key when it came to power.
China has, for some time, been our biggest trading partner, especially in the agricultural sector.
Surely, these two former, well-respected Prime Ministers should not be criticised for attending the celebrations in Beijing to mark the end of the Japanese war against China.
Many may not like the way they see China developing, but we would be in a bad way if this deal had not been completed back in 2008.
Instead of criticism from the usual complainers, perhaps we should regard the attendance in Beijing by these two former Prime Ministers as a clever act of diplomacy.
J Phillips, Auckland.
Think of the future
The criticism of our former Prime Ministers’ attendance at China’s military parade reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of our position in the modern world.
Can we afford the luxury of pursuing ideological purity? Surely pragmatic diplomacy serves our national interest.
Helen Clark was right, engagement with major powers, even when we have differences, is simply good statecraft. Diplomatic engagement isn’t endorsement, it’s recognition of reality.
Critics of Keys and Clark’s attendance suggest we are compromising our values, but isolation achieves nothing. Our future lies in balanced relationships, not ideological isolation.
It isn’t about choosing sides, it’s about choosing prosperity and relevance in an interconnected world.
James Gregory, Parnell.
Ignoring the elephant
In the endless discussions about what the Government should do and the Opposition would do, the elephant in the room is ignored: us.
If the health system is so dismal, why are people doing everything they can to get into it? They don’t use seatbelts, they phone and text while driving, fill themselves to the gills with junk food, and run at each other at full speed – and that’s just rugby.
Perhaps our award-winning opinionists could sum all this up and tell us how much “elective” surgery could be done instead.
K H Peter Kammler, Warkworth.