File photo. Winston Peters with Wang Yi in 2024. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Foreign Minister Winston Peters' four decades of interaction with China will be invaluable for his talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Wednesday.
Arriving fresh from seeing horses race in the Saudi Cup and Kiwi boxer Joseph Parker's bout against Congolese fighter Martin Bakole in Riyadh, Peters lands in Beijing about 9am local time on Tuesday.
He has meetings with other senior Chinese leaders lined up, including the head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party Liu Jianchao.
He is set to meet with Foreign Minister Wang about 9pm Wednesday (NZ time).
"China is one of New Zealand's most significant and complex relationships, encompassing important trade, people-to-people, and cultural connections. We intend to maintain regular high-level political dialogue with China," Peters said in a statement.
The pair are set to discuss China's relationship with New Zealand, the Pacific and wider global issues.
That seems certain to include the trio of Chinese war ships conducting live fire exercises off Australia, a move some say could push New Zealand towards closer ties with the US and the AUKUS grouping.
The Cook Islands prime minister's recent trip to Beijing, where he signed multiple deals is also likely to come up.
The one deal made public - a memorandum of understanding between Rarotonga and Beijing - promises investment in the "blue economy" and could include allowing Chinese construction of ports, wharves and the presence of ships in the Cook Islands.
Donald Trump's presidency and the war in Ukraine also remain topical matters of global interest.
After China, Peters heads to Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar - to discuss cooperation in agriculture and tourism - and South Korea's Seoul to meet with Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and talk about "economic opportunities for New Zealand" before returning home on Sunday 2 March.
Peters is also the Minister for Rail in charge of leading the government's replacement of the Interislander ferries. South Korea's Hyundai-Mipo Dockyards was the company that had been contracted to build the large replacements for the ferries, before the coalition government pulled out of the deal.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
