New Zealand's Trade Minister is said to be walking a tightrope during his meeting with Chinese officials during his Asian trip this week, as the backdrop of his meetings involves numerous political plays that could be straining the relationship between the two nations.

Trade Minister Todd McClay is in China this week for high-level meetings with the country's Ministers of Commerce and Agriculture-Rural Affairs. He'll be discussing trade matters with New Zealand's biggest trading partner.

China currently offers New Zealand around $18 billion a year of exports.

The trip comes only a couple of weeks after the announcement of a Chinese state-sponsored cyber-attack on New Zealand back in 2021. McClay's trip to China was already marked in the calendar before the announcement and he confirmed to ZB Plus at the time his plans would not change.

ZB Plus asked McClay in March whether the cyber-attack announcement would influence his trade trip in any way.

"No, our relationship with China is broad and long-standing," he said.

"I was pleased to meet with China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao recently on the margins of World Trade Organisation meetings and China’s Foreign Minster Wang Yi here in Wellington earlier this month."

Since then, New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has completed his visit to the United States - where he further strengthened New Zealand's ties with the superpower. During his trip to Washington, Peters told the media the two countries had pledged to work "ever more closely together" in support of shared values and interests.

He said New Zealand wanted to advance its trade and economic relationship with the US.

"As we face a range of common challenges, globally and in the Indo-Pacific region, it’s more important than ever that New Zealand and the United States find common cause in defence of shared values and interests," Peters said.

This meeting, along with ongoing discussions and interest from New Zealand around the Aukus Indo-Pacific security agreement, has created a stir among Chinese officials, according to former New Zealand trade negotiator Charles Finney.

Finney told Newstalk ZB this morning that McClay's meeting with China was positive from a trading perspective, considering China is a major market and plays a critical role in New Zealand's trade sphere.

"Politically, things are more complex," he told Mike Hosking.

"We have some differences, particularly around things like the South China Sea and all this concern around human rights, but politically we're finding things to work on as well. But right now the relationship is a bit more tense, maybe because of things like the recent statements around Aukus."

Finney said that Peters' visit would have been watched closely by China, he said he'd seen Chinese ambassadors making comments to the New Zealand media about the meetings.

"So [McClay's] visit is all about the tightrope we walk between China and the United States."

Hosking asked if China would be able to overlook the Aukus discussions since comments around the alliance only came out last week, but Finney said the timing of the US' conversations with Peters about Aukus wouldn't have been a coincidence.

Rather, Finney said, the Government knew it would be making the statements it did post-Washington and that New Zealand would likely be sending further delegations in the coming year.

"Including, hopefully, our Prime Minister," said Finney.

In terms of the content of McClay's discussions with China, Alistair Crozier of the NZ China Council spoke to Newstalk ZB about the significant role China played in New Zealand's export economy and the fact other emerging markets were also appearing.

Hosking asked if there was more that could be gained from China's economy. Crozier said he's often asked if New Zealand will ever go back to the "golden days" that immediately followed the signing of the two countries' Free Trade Agreement.

"The reality is we won't," he said.

"It's because it's a mature relationship now and the easy wins have been had. But, you know, China is projecting its middle class [to] double from 400 million to 800 million people, that's the consumers that are focused on what we export. So I think the prospects are still very bright to continue growth."

Crozier agreed he was bullish about China's markets despite their economic issues of late, he considered every country in the world had a rocky exit post-Covid and noted China exited a full year later than most other major economies.

He said when it came to trade discussions between the two countries, the conversations are likely to work around the issues without too much concern.

"I think the two countries are very adept at having those difficult discussions and doing so openly," said Crozier.

"We had the Chinese Foreign Minister down here weeks ago and he had discussions with Mr Peters. The visit this week by Mr McClay will be focused on his portfolio areas of trade and agriculture. I don't think the political discussions will get in the way of him doing what he has to do."

Hosking asked if China would be able to outdo its need for New Zealand's products with its agriculture sector, Crozier was positive about future trade partnerships with China.

"They will always need imports of commodities like dairy from overseas and I think New Zealand contributes about half of that at the moment, so [it's] a huge relationship for us," he said.

"The local companies are becoming a lot higher quality, they're very good at retail but there are still areas - the nutrition and the science of it - where we're still ahead of where China is."

Trade Agreement.

"The reality is we won't," he said.

"It's because it's a mature relationship now and the easy wins have been had. But, you know, China is projecting its middle class [to] double from 400 million to 800 million people, that's the consumers that are focused on what we export. So I think the prospects are still very bright to continue growth."

Crozier agreed he was bullish about China's markets despite their economic issues of late, he considered every country in the world had a rocky exit post-Covid and noted China exited a full year later than most other major economies.

He said when it came to trade discussions between the two countries, the conversations are likely to work around the issues without too much concern.

"I think the two countries are very adept at having those difficult discussions and doing so openly," said Crozier.

"We had the Chinese Foreign Minister down here weeks ago and he had discussions with Mr Peters. The visit this week by Mr McClay will be focused on his portfolio areas of trade and agriculture. I don't think the political discussions will get in the way of him doing what he has to do."

Hosking asked if China would be able to outdo its need for New Zealand's products with its agriculture sector, Crozier was positive about future trade partnerships with China.

"They will always need imports of commodities like dairy from overseas and I think New Zealand contributes about half of that at the moment, so [it's] a huge relationship for us," he said.

"The local companies are becoming a lot higher quality, they're very good at retail but there are still areas - the nutrition and the science of it - where we're still ahead of where China is."