China-New Zealand ties: A History of individual efforts to build a bilateral relationship

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and New Zealand. These ties while impressive through economic figures, like the $22 billion in trade both ways in 2021, really find their foundation through the human connection. In fact, it was Kiwi writer and activist Rewi Alley who first came to China in 1927 and stayed through war and revolution that demonstrates this personal touch. Alley even opened a school in the remote Gansu province. His brief trips back to his homeland of New Zealand throughout the Cold War made him a vital bridge in the burgeoning China-New Zealand relationship. New Zealand Ambassador to China Clare Fearnley, whom I spoke to, also embodies this people-centered approach to building ties. She first visited China in 1985 to teach English in Xi’an. She then stayed to study at Peking University. During her stay in China she became especially passionate about ornithology, specifically the flight path of the godwit that flies annually from her native New Zealand to the shores of northern China before flying to Alaska. She points to the godwit as forming a shared heritage between China and New Zealand. Fearnley hopes that travel restrictions between China and New Zealand can be eased soon so that people-to-people exchanges, like the ones she and the late Mr. Alley experienced, can take off once again.

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