Morrison assures that China cannot build up a wall between Australia and New Zealand
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Canberra, May 31: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Canberra and Wellington policies with regard to China won't divide the neighbouring countries as they stood 'resolutely together' on shared values and principles.
As Morrison and New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern used their first face-to-face meeting in 15 months to play down signs of division over China, Morrison said those who wished to split Canberra and Wellington over their policy towards Beijing would not succeed, reported South China Morning Post (SCMP). "We will continue to work together in that way, and I have no doubt there will be those who seek to undermine Australia and New Zealand's security by seeking to create points of difference, which are not there," he said.
In probably a veiled reference to China, Morrison said that "those far from here" and "many others" sought to divide the partners and allies. On the other hand, Ardern said that she did not "detect any difference" between the sides on the "importance of maintaining a very strong and principled perspective on issues around trade, on issues around human rights", as she welcomed her Australian counterpart in Queenstown. "And you'll see that Australia and New Zealand have broadly been positioned in exactly the same place on these issues, consistently. So I really push back on any suggestion we are not taking a strong stance on these incredibly important issues," she said.
In a joint statement released after their talks, the leaders expressed concern about deteriorating freedoms in Hong Kong, the treatment of ethnic minority Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and the "militarization of disputed features and an intensification of destabilizing activities" in the South China Sea. The joint statement also raised concern about "harmful economic coercion", an apparent reference to Beijing's campaign of economic retaliation against Australia amid heightened tensions between the two countries.