Apec 2024: Christopher Luxon raises ‘concerns’ with President Xi over China missile launch into Pacific Ocean

• Christopher Luxon is in Peru for Apec, attending the summit for the first time.
• He met with China’s President Xi Jinping for the first time, describing the bilateral as ‘constructive and positive’.
• But the Prime Minister also made good on his promise to raise subjects where the two countries disagree, such as issues of human rights in China.

Prime Minister Chris Luxon has registered his concerns with China’s intercontinental ballistic missile programme directly with President Xi Jinping during their first face-to-face meeting.

The pair met on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Peru, culminating in Luxon receiving an official invitation to visit Beijing early next year.

That’s an invitation Luxon’s accepted, telling media after the roughly 25-minute long bilateral meeting in Lima the conversations between himself, Xi and the two-dozen officials was a “productive, positive and constructive conversation”.

But the first test launch of a Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile in almost half a century was an area of “concern” for Luxon – especially since it landed in the Pacific Ocean.

In late September, China’s Defence Ministry fired a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean, as part of a “routine arrangement in our annual training plan”.

The missile “fell into expected sea areas,” a spokesperson said.

After the meeting with Xi, Luxon told media he had raised this as an issue, as it was “a concern for many of us in the Pacific – and for the Pacific Island Leaders as well”.

“There hadn’t been a missile fired for 44 years and it ended up just north of Tahiti. In the Pacific, we have a history around nuclear testing.”

Although New Zealand was advised a few hours before the missile landed, some Pacific Island nations were not told.

Despite Luxon’s concerns, both leaders were full of praise for each other’s respective countries in opening remarks ahead of the meeting.

Xi said since taking office, Luxon had supported further co-operation between New Zealand and China: “I commend your efforts,” he said through a translator.

“Over the past decade, China-New Zealand relations have maintained a momentum of sound and steady growth which has greatly improved the wellbeing of our two peoples and should be all the more cherished.”

Xi went on to say that China was ready to work with New Zealand to “create more firsts for our relationship”.

Luxon responded in kind: “We place great significance on our relationship with China”.

“It is a long-standing and important one and the links between our people, our business people as well as our students and migrants has been a long-standing and successful one.”

But it wasn’t all smiles – Luxon said he raised a number of areas of concern within the relationship, in addition to the issues with the missile test.

These included some “tensions” within the region, particularly in the South China Sea.

“We raised human rights, we talked about the Pacific Island nations and wanting to operate around the centrality of that forum.”

These are similar issues Luxon raised when he met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in New Zealand earlier this year.

Asked at one point how much of the meeting had gone towards discussing shared interests, and how much to differences, he offered an almost casual: “Probably 50-50.”

Yesterday, Luxon was unwilling to provide such a breakdown: “[I’m] not going to get into that”.

Xi wasn’t the only world leader on Luxon’s packed agenda of political speed dating yesterday.

He ran into Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the airport and sat down with President Luong Cuong of Vietnam and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

But his first official bilateral was with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte.

Her lengthy opening statements were interrupted by an official, who politely told her to hurry things up. Before his remarks, Luxon was given a similar warning – he spoke for less than two minutes.

He was given a much longer leash at the Apec CEO summit, where he appeared on the buzzword-heavy Driving Prosperity: Financial Access and Economic Growth panel.

During the session, Luxon made a pitch to Apec leaders: “We need to redouble our efforts and come together to reinforce the rules-based system.”

He said when it comes to international trade, there has been a shift from “rules to power” – that is, a move away from well-established international trading relationships, toward superpowers throwing their weights around.

Luxon did not say specifically which countries he was referring to – but it’s likely a reference to the US, which has become more protectionist in recent years, with fears this mindset may amplify under another Donald Trump Presidency.

Trump was not at Apec, with the US represented by outgoing President Joe Biden.

A spokesman for Luxon confirmed he and Biden had an “informal catch up” at the leaders’ Gala Dinner last night: likely the last time the pair will see each other before Biden vacates the White House in January next year.