Highlights of the New Zealanders’ Perceptions of Asia and Asian Peoples 2025 survey

This year there are several new features of the survey, including trends over time, “spotlights” on ASEAN as well as the New Zealand – India relationship, and an interactive web tool that allows you to engage with the data yourself more interactively. I encourage you to take a look here. 

Since I have been immersed in this data for several months now in the lead up to release, I wanted to highlight a few findings that stood out to me in this year’s survey. We look forward to discussing these in more detail at our Asia After Five events around New Zealand in the coming weeks  

Trendlines are consistent and positive on the importance of Asia to New Zealand 

New Zealanders continue to see Asia as critical to New Zealand’s future, second only to Australia in terms of importance. This is reflected in the increased proportion who view developing political, economic and social ties with Asia as important – up from 67 percent in 2019 to 81 percent today. 

The importance of North and Southeast Asia have increased this year (four percentage points each), while South Asia holds steady after a significant increase in the last survey. Self-assessed knowledge of Asia remains at an all-time high (59 percent), while knowledge of all other world regions has declined.

Economic interests continue to drive engagement, but tech, defence and security are rising in importance 

The importance of trade and business ties to Asia is clear throughout this year’s report: doing business and trading together is cited as the most important activity for growing relationships in Asia, it is the top reason for seeing Japan, India, and China as friends (and especially so for China), and business, trade and investment are identified as priorities for engagement with India. 

In this context, however, countries are being seen as more than just markets for New Zealand goods. There is a notable recognition of Japan, South Korea, and Singapore as fast-growing hubs for technology and innovation for example. 

This same set of countries are also identified as increasingly important defence and security partners for New Zealand in a more contested geopolitical environment.  

New Zealanders’ relationships across Asia are deepening…and broadening

A notable feature of this year’s report is the warmth in sentiment towards Southeast Asian countries, which have all seen friend perceptions increase between eight and 10 percentage points on average. 

There are a number of possible reasons for this increased warmth. The New Zealand Government has focused on lifting its engagement with Southeast Asia over the past year and the media around official visits likely impacted perceptions. There are also a number of notable diplomatic anniversaries – 50 years with Vietnam, 50 years as diplomatic partner of ASEAN, and 60 years with Singapore – adding to this media coverage.  

Finally, in a more challenging geopolitical environment with unpredictable great powers, New Zealanders may well be looking out to the world in the hopes of forming closer relationships with smaller like-minded partners in the region.  

Geopolitical developments are impacting New Zealanders’ views  

World events have clearly impacted New Zealanders’ perceptions in this latest survey. The mini-poll results of March 2025 in particular show that the Trump administration’s initial wave of tariffs, as well as policies towards Ukraine, impacted friend/threat perceptions: sentiment towards the United States dropped from 61 percent friend in 2024 to 32 percent in March 2025, and threat perceptions increased from 17 percent to 32 percent.  

Trust levels in the United States also dropped from 33 percent in November 2024 to 17 percent in March 2025, an all-time low. This is in line with public opinion results around the world, and in particular Australia’s Lowy Poll released earlier this week. 

The United States is not alone. China’s live-fire military exercises in the Tasman Sea and signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership with the Cook Islands also impacted New Zealanders’ views. Threat perceptions of China rose from 28 percent in 2024 to 41 percent by March 2025, and friend perceptions dropped from 38 percent to 21 percent. 

Though a third of New Zealanders are in favour of increased defence spending, concerns about military conflict rank relatively low 

As of March 2025, 35 percent of New Zealanders are in favour of increasing defence spending while 37 percent think the government has it about right. Only 11 percent think that the government should spend less. 

Despite over one third thinking the government should spend more on defence, concerns about military conflict in the region rank relatively low compared to other threats to New Zealand’s vital interests (11th out of 13 possibilities). New Zealanders are more concerned about fake news and mis/disinformation, climate change, and cyber-attacks.

This compares to Australia’s Lowy Poll, where concerns over a military conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan ranks second (61 percent see it as a critical concern) and 51 percent are in favour of increased defence spending. 

Traditional media is on the decline as social media rises

Traditional media (print newspaper/radio) continues to top the list of sources of Asia-related news, but it is on the decline compared to social media (Facebook, Twitter, podcasts). Traditional media sources dropped by eight percentage points this year, while social media continued its upward trajectory by four percentage points. 

Younger New Zealanders tend to be more likely to use social media than older generations – 73 percent of under 40s cite social media as their main source of Asia-related news.

Perceptions of Asia 2025

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The Foundation's Asia in Focus initiative publishes expert insights and analysis on issues across Asia, as well as New Zealand’s evolving relationship with the region.