New Zealand and Australia yesterday expressed grave concerns over developments in Hong Kong and the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region of China, as the two nations sought to get in lockstep over their biggest trading partner.

In the first face-to-face meeting between heads of both countries in more than 15 months, Wellington and Canberra presented a united on Beijing.

Quarantine-free travel between Australia and New Zealand began last month after the two nations controlled the spread of COVID-19, allowing Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to visit New Zealand.

Talks were focused among other things on China, with Canberra at loggerheads with Beijing, while Wellington has strengthened economic ties with China, with the two countries this year upgrading their free-trade agreement.

New Zealand’s approach to China has led to suggestions by political commentators and the media that Wellington might not be taking a strong enough stance on China’s human rights’ issues.

Ardern rejected this, saying New Zealand and Australia had similar positions on issues such as trade and human rights.

“You’ll see Australia and New Zealand have broadly been positioned in exactly the same place on these issues consistently, so I really push back on any suggestion that we are not taking a strong stance on these incredibly important issues,” she said in a joint press conference.

Morrison backed Ardern, saying Australia and New Zealand were trading nations, but neither would ever trade its sovereignty.

“I think as great partners, friends, allies and indeed family, there will be those far from here who would seek to divide us and they will not succeed,” he said.

In a joint statement both prime ministers expressed grave concerns over developments in Hong Kong and the human rights situation in Xinjiang, and called on Beijing to respect the human rights of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, and to grant the UN and other independent observers unfettered access to the region.

UN rights experts and campaigners say at least 1 million Muslims have been detained in camps in Xinjiang. Rights advocates and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labor and sterilizations.

China initially denied detention camps existed, but has since said they are vocational centers designed to combat extremism. In late 2019, China said all people in the camps had “graduated.”

In Hong Kong, Beijing has clamped down on political protest, introducing last year a new National Security Law that criminalizes what it considers subversion, secessionism, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces.

Asked about the joint statement by Canberra and Wellington, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told a regular news briefing in Beijing that China was firmly opposed to foreign interference.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archies/2021/06/01/2003758392