Our Future with Asia

A Major Challenge for New Zealand

New Zealand has also undergone changes in recent years. Our society is more diverse than at any other time in our history. Our economy is bigger than ever. Asia is increasingly important to our economic future. The Government’s commitment to taking Asia seriously and investing effort in the region is appreciated in Asia’s capitals. But the region is not standing still.

Seizing New Opportunities

New Zealand has to accelerate the tempo of its relationships with Asia, politically, economically and socially. In the decades ahead we shall find ourselves dealing with a region that will carry greater weight in the global political, security and economic arenas. Accordingly we expect Asia to become more confident and assertive in its approach with the rest of the world. We have to position ourselves to take advantage of opportunities that will arise from the next stage of our relationship.

This will be a major challenge for New Zealand:

• the onus is on us to keep pace with the region. The extent to which New Zealand can rely on past achievements is limited. We need to be even more involved than we have been to date in maintaining and sustaining our relationships;
• Asia is geographically vast. It is highly diverse. There are major social and economic differences between countries but also within countries. This means that New Zealand is not dealing with “Asia” as a single unit and cannot adopt a “one size fits all” approach. It is important, however, to keep fostering existing valued relationships even while we seize new opportunities;
• we need to determine how New Zealand, as a small democracy, can best engage with a region where political systems, culture, language and values can be so different from our own; and
• as Asian nations become wealthier and play an increasingly important role in global affairs, the number of other countries wishing to engage with the region has increased. The field has become more crowded and more competitive.

We must work harder to be seen and heard.

Next > Four Specific Challenges

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