Dr Beth Greener - Beijing, September 2009
On Saturday 6th September six of us set off from New Zealand to attend a variety of track two initiatives in China and Japan. Richard Grant from Asia:NZ, Brian Lynch from the NZIIA, three academics from three universities (myself, David Capie from Victoria and Jian Yang from Auckland), and Simon Gray representing the Asia:NZ Young Leaders Network left Auckland airport bound for Beijing. Once in situ we were then joined by Michael Powles (Senior Fellow, CSS) and, for our stint in Beijing, by Charlie Gao, another Young Leader based at Peking University.
On the Sunday evening three of our party, Michael, Brian and Richard, were invited to visit the highly influential China Centre for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) that had opened earlier in the year. The following day the seven-strong delegation, plus Charlie and an accompanying Embassy representative Nikki Reid, made our first visit to the well-known Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. Housed in a beautiful complex and renowned for the status of its guests (Henry Kissinger is a regular) the CPIFA visit involved informal and wide-ranging discussions with our Chinese counterparts from CPIFA, as well as Peking University, Renmin University, the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), and the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR). The session began with an update of New Zealand - China bilateral relations (an unexpected but welcome frontispiece to our set agenda), where our Chinese host Ambassador Chen stressed the significance of New Zealand to China in terms of the '4 firsts’. The discussion then ranged over a number of pressing topics: the issue of current tensions in the Sino-Australian relationship was raised; East Asian regional architecture was touched upon; and we spoke briefly about the impacts of the financial crisis. Throughout these we discussed ways of increasing cooperation and levels of understanding between China and New Zealand, focusing in particular on the importance of people exchanges across a wide spectrum of sectors, as well as more specific initiatives such as improving small and medium business cooperation.
On Tuesday morning we were joined by Pam Dunn, Deputy Head of Mission, and Colonel Peter Cunninghame, Defence Attache, to undertake further discussions at a visit to the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR). President Cui Liru opened with frank commentary about the situation on the Korean peninsula that led to a lively interchange with the New Zealand delegation. Dr Huanying then spoke knowledgably and engagingly about the current financial situation globally and locally, and we specifically raised the issue of currency exchange. From here we then moved to discuss the direction of East Asian regionalism. Our Chinese counterparts stressed the significance and workability of the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) forum, whilst we pointed out that New Zealand also hoped to see the East Asia Summit (EAS) to succeed. Given that the Hon. Tim Groser has recently been stressing a strong desire for the EAS to incorporate a region-wide free trade agreement (or ‘CEPEA’ – Closer Economic Partnership East Asia), it was sobering when our counterparts across the table noted that they hadn't managed to secure better trading relations with Japan. Throughout this the issue of possible US involvement was a prominent feature, with varying views on where the US would go now that it has signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and what it would mean for ‘East Asia’ should the US join the EAS. We then wound up with discussion on the role of ASEAN and its value in anchoring regionalism to date. Both of these fruitful meetings were supported by further discussion both over rather magnificent lunches, and over a dinner at Ambassador Worker’s residence on Monday evening with additional eminent guests, which facilitated a more relaxed exchange of ideas.
