(Reuters). Jacinda, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, has welcomed US signs of a larger engagement in Indo-Pacific. In an interview she said that her country had “matured” ties to China and that there is room for dispute.

Next week, Ardern hosts an online summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, which includes the United States and China, in order to talk about how to recover from the COVID-19 epidemic and its ensuing economic crisis.

Ardern claimed that President Joe Biden has given the United States “an incredibly significant role” in the strategic defense, economy, and trade ties of the region in an interview airing on Sunday at NBC.

She said that she welcomed the physical presence of the delegation to participate in important regional talks. We have witnessed, that there has been a greater…engagement in the recent past.

Ardern reiterated https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-wants-mature-relationship-with-china-foreign-minister-says-2021-05-07 her government’s position that New Zealand – which has major trade ties to China and has long been touted by Beijing as a model of its relations with Western countries – will pursue a policy of “integrity” with China.

Ardern stated that “we still believe that our relationship is mature enough to raise any issues we are concerned about,”

We believe it is very important that we can continue doing that, regardless of any trade ties.

Relations between New Zealand and Australia’s neighbor China have deteriorated significantly since 2018 when Canberra removed Huawei Technologies Co. from its 5G broadband network. Australia requested an independent investigation of the source of the coronavirus outbreak, which was first detected in central China in 2019, and further cooling relations.

China responded by imposing tariffs on Australian commodities, including wine and barley, and limited imports of Australian beef, coal and grapes – moves the United States called “economic coercion https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-will-not-leave-australia-alone-face-china-coercion-blinken-2021-05-13”.

This has not affected China’s ties with New Zealand, however, as both nations upgraded a free trade agreement in January, although New Zealand united https://www.reuters.com/world/china/australia-new-zealand-unite-over-china-human-rights-issues-2021-05-31 with Australia over China human rights issues.