China's top legislator calls for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation between China, New Zealand

Zhao Leji, chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee, is paying official goodwill visits to New Zealand and Australia from November 19 to 25 at the invitation of Speaker of New Zealand's House of Representatives Gerry Brownlee and Australia's Speaker of the Senate Sue Lines and Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick.

Zhao paid an official visit to New Zealand from November 19 to 22. During his visit, he called for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation between China and New Zealand.

He met with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Auckland and held talks with Brownlee in Wellington.

During his meeting with Luxon, Zhao said that cooperation between the two countries in various fields has yielded fruitful results and that the second decade of their comprehensive strategic partnership has gotten off to a good start.

China is willing to work with New Zealand to consolidate traditional friendship, enhance understanding and mutual trust, accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns, and be sincere friends and cooperative partners who treat each other as equals, Zhao said.

He expressed hope that China and New Zealand can deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, strengthen multilateral collaboration, and jointly promote trade and investment liberalization as well as regional economic integration.

Luxon said that the traditional friendship between New Zealand and China is profound and that relations between the two countries are long-lasting and stable.

New Zealand has always adhered to the one-China policy, he said, adding that New Zealand is willing to enhance dialogue and exchanges with China and carry out cooperation in multiple fields such as economy and trade, education, culture, tourism, environmental protection and agriculture to better benefit the people of both countries.

During his meeting with Brownlee, Zhao said that China is willing to work with New Zealand to strengthen multilateral exchanges and interactions among legislative bodies, as well as enhance communication and collaboration on various platforms, to promote the development of global governance in a more just and equitable direction.

For his part, Brownlee said that New Zealand's parliament is willing to enhance friendly exchanges with China's National People's Congress and play an active role in promoting bilateral relations.

During his visit to New Zealand, Zhao also attended the opening ceremony of a memorial museum honoring Rewi Alley, a dedicated New Zealander who helped build friendly relations between China and New Zealand, in Christchurch and visited a local family at Gilchrist Brothers Farm.

(With input from Xinhua)