Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is due to face questions about his impending meeting with his Chinese counterpart before he departs early tomorrow morning.
You can listen to him speaking live with Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking at 7.35am via the below link.
The Prime Minister will also join Herald NOW’s Ryan Bridge on the show at 8am.
Travelling with a business delegation to China, he will meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing and will also visit Shanghai.
After China, Luxon will visit Europe, attending the Nato leaders’ summit in The Hague and visiting Brussels for meetings with European Union leaders.
US President Donald Trump is also expected to attend the Nato summit, as are European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
New Zealand is not a member of Nato, but is invited to the summit as a member of the Indo-Pacific 4 (IP4) nations, a group that includes Australia, Japan and South Korea. The Prime Minister of New Zealand has attended every Nato leaders’ summit since 2022.
China is keen for New Zealand to reciprocate a level of visa-waiver travel for tourists, allowing Chinese tourists to arrive in New Zealand without a visa. This is unlikely, however, given the number of Chinese visitors who overstay their visas or try to claim asylum under the current system.
Luxon will be accompanied to China by the 2025 Te Matatini champions, Te Kapa Haka o Ngatī Whakaue. He will celebrate Matariki in China.
In Europe, he was looking forward to “forging stronger links with businesses and investors as part of our wider plan to rebuild New Zealand’s economy”, he said.
“Prosperity is only possible with security, and our discussions will focus on connections between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security environments.”
Luxon is also expected to face questions on the Israel-Iran conflict, which continued to escalate over the past three days.
On Friday, Luxon said the military action between Israel and Iran could be “potentially catastrophic” for the Middle East.
He addressed media in Wellington on Friday shortly after Israel launched a “pre-emptive strike” on Iran.
The situation was an “unwelcome development” for the Middle East and a “huge concern to us”, the Prime Minister said.
“The risk of miscalculation is high. That region does not need any more military action and the risk associated with that.”
