Prime Minister Chris Hipkins played it safe in his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, restricting chat mainly to New Zealand and China’s economic relationship.

Some issues on which the two countries disagree, which are many, were not discussed but merely “referenced”, said Hipkins.

“In some cases our position was referenced rather than gone into in detail. Minister Mahuta was here only recently, for example, and had more depth of conversation on, on some of the issues which we only had an opportunity to touch on briefly,” Hipkins said.

One topic that appears to have come up is Hipkins’ decision not to join US President Joe Biden in labelling Xi a dictator - a decision praised in an opinion piece that ran in a state tabloid, The Global Times, prior to the visit.

When asked whether this came up, Hipkins pointedly said that he did not raise the matter, but implied the Chinese side might have done.

“It’s a question really for them to address. I did not raise it.

“I’m not going to speak for - it would be undiplomatic for me to make representations on behalf of China.”

When asked whether the topic came up at all, Hipkins said, “I’m not going to relay any issues that China raised with me ...

“I did not raise the matter,” he said, emphasising the “I”.

Following the meeting, Xi described New Zealand as a “friend and partner”.

When asked whether he would describe the relationship in the same way, Hipkins took four questions from media to eventually conclude the relationship was an “international partnership” and a “friendship” but it “depends on the context”.

In remarks ahead of the meeting, Xi said he appreciated the importance Hipkins placed on the relationship with China and that he himself attached “great importance” to the relationship.

“After taking office as Prime Minister, you have stated multiple times that you value China-New Zealand relations and will continue to strengthen cooperation with China,” Xi said, speaking through a translator.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Premier Xi Jinping shake hands in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing 27 June 2023. Photo / Nathan McKinnon

“I myself [am] attaching great importance to our relations with New Zealand,” he said.

“Our relationship has remained robust and strong. It has brought tangible benefits to people in our two countries and contributed to regional peace, stability and prosperity.”

In the build-up to Hipkins’ 40-minute meeting with Xi - the meeting ran over time - Chinese state media had discussed the tension between New Zealand’s deep trade relationship with China and what it alleged was the anti-Chinese tilt of other Western countries like Australia, which seem to place their relationships with the United States in higher regard than their relationship with China.

The issue of China and the United States was discussed. Hipkins would not be drawn on specifics.

Asked whether China reiterated the view expressed in state media that New Zealand not be drawn further into the American orbit - a view Chinese diplomats made well-known after former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s visit to Washington DC last year - Hipkins said only, “There’s an easy answer to that question. I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to give it”.

Hipkins said the meeting with China mainly focused on the economic relationship, with issues of disagreement apparently playing second fiddle.

“Certainly the economic relationship between New Zealand and China was by far the biggest topic that we discussed, but we also discussed a broad range of international issues including international relationships,” he said.

Hipkins repeatedly refused to divulge what he discussed during the meeting, and would not say what was put forward by the Chinese side - perhaps fearing a repeat of Xi giving Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a public dressing down after details of their meeting appeared in the press.

Hipkins said China’s desire to join the CPTPP trade agreement was “referenced”.

“I referenced that in some remarks that I made acknowledging that China has expressed that interest,” he said.

Hipkins said he found Xi “easy to speak to”.

He said human rights were raised, but “not in great depth”.

This is despite Hipkins being an MP in 2021 when Parliament condemned the human rights against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

“I referenced New Zealand’s position on human rights,” he said.

“It was raised, I restated New Zealand’s position,” Hipkins said.

When asked whether he spent even a minute of the 40-minute meeting discussing New Zealand’s objections to China’s human rights abuses, Hipkins said, “I didn’t have a stopwatch”.

Thomas Coughlan is deputy political editor of the New Zealand Herald, which he joined in 2021. He previously worked for Stuff and Newsroom in their Press Gallery offices in Wellington. He started in the Press Gallery in 2018.