Prime Minister Chris Hipkins fronts media after touching down in Beijing for make-or-break China trip

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins arrives in Beijing. Photo / Nathan Mckinnon-Pool

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says the most important thing for him to do in China was to express the message that New Zealand is open for business, and he wants to see travel between the two countries “really ramping up again”.

Hipkins fronted media after touching down in Beijing ahead of his week-long tour of China.

Hipkins landed about 2.30am today New Zealand time and was met at the airport by New Zealand’s ambassador to Beijing Grahame Morton and a welcoming committee of Chinese soldiers and officials.

On the tarmac, Hipkins was met by China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu.

In response to an article about New Zealand’s good relationship with China relative to other Western countries, Hipkins said the NZ-China relationship was 50 years old at least, and one that New Zealand valued as mutually beneficial.

He wouldn’t be drawn on whether Australia or the US could learn from New Zealand’s example. Nor would he be drawn on what specific role China could play in the Ukraine war, other than to say any country that can use its influence to de-escalate the tensions should do so.

He said he had been debriefed by Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta about her last trip to China where she had had a “constructive” conversation with her Chinese counterpart, which has been described as a diplomatic “dressing down”.

He said Mahuta had not described it as that, adding it was important to be able to have frank discussions.

He said disagreements could be aired between the countries in a “robust” manner.

The Herald earlier revealed there were two NZ Defence Force Boeing 757 planes on the runway during a stopover in Manila, Philippines, en route to China.

The PM’s office has clarified one was a backup in case the other broke down and has only travelled as far as Manila before returning to Cairns, Australia.

Hipkins said the Defence Force planes will come up for replacement in the next few years, and the decision to have two planes on this trip came from the Air Force, he said.

Former Defence Minister Peeni Henare added that the 757s “still got some years left” in them.

“We’ve made it and we’re here”, he said.

Former Defence Minister Peeni Henare responded to concerns about ageing military planes, saying 'It's still got some years left in it'. Photo / Thomas Coughlan

Hipkins arrives in China at a pivotal point in the Russia-Ukraine war, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin saw his authority challenged by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group.

Prigozhin launched a brief mutiny, taking a Russian city before a truce was negotiated.

Kremlin watchers think the episode is evidence of fraying morale inside Russia.

Members of the New Zealand delegation were checking their phones at refuelling stops in Cairns and Manila to get the latest from Russia.

This is significant news for China, which, though it has not picked a side in the war, is often thought to be implicitly backing Russia by not taking a more forceful position on the conflict.

The war is almost certain to come up in Hipkins’ visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday evening, NZ time.

Chinese troops awaiting Chris Hipkins' arrival. Photo / Nathan Mckinnon-Pool

The meeting with Xi will be the most significant diplomatic engagement of Hipkins’ tenure as Prime Minister thus far. It comes after reports in The Australian that Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta was given a dressing down by her counterpart when she visited Beijing earlier this year.

His first day is relatively light on the diplomatic side, with a focus on business events hosted by New Zealand’s embassy in Beijing.

On Tuesday morning, he will appear in a series of events hosted by the World Economic Forum in Tianjin before heading back to Beijing to meet the Chinese leadership in the Great Hall of the People.

Geopolitical turmoil is an unwelcome intervention in what is otherwise a strictly trade exercise.

Speaking on the Government’s decision to provide $5 million to liquidators to ensure Mt Ruapehu’s 2023 ski season can go ahead, he said the Government wants to work with whoever will end up operating the skifields.

Hipkins said hopefully there will be tourism opportunities above and beyond the ski season.

Ahead of the trip, Hipkins said trade was the bread and butter of how New Zealand made its way in the world.

“There’s not much more bread and butter than trade for a country like New Zealand, we are a trading nation.

“Trade is a centrepiece of the trip.”

This will not stop Hipkins from speaking up about human rights. In 2021, Parliament voted unanimously to voice concerns at human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Ahead of the trip, attention was focused on US President Joe Biden and his decision to label President Xi a dictator.

Hipkins said he would not use similar language himself.

“I generally don’t think those labels are useful,” he said.

Hipkins deftly sidestepped the question multiple times. Asked to describe Xi, Hipkins said simply “I haven’t met him yet”.

This is Hipkins’ first meeting with Xi. Former prime minister Jacinda Ardern last saw him at the APEC summit in 2022.

The last time a prime minister visited China was in 2019.

Hipkins was taking no chances with this trip, which included one of the largest business and cultural delegations ever sent on an overseas mission.

Accompanying the main RNZAF plane to Cairns and Manila was a second RNZAF plane. This was backup in case the main plane suffered one of its frequent breakdowns. It returns to Australia.

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.