Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Beijing for three high-level meetings this week. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will seek answers on the issues of Chinese warships in the Tasman Sea and a controversial agreement with the Cook Islands at all three of his meetings with high-level political counterparts in Beijing this week.
On Tuesday evening NZT Winston Peters had a more than two-hour sit-down with Liu Jianchao - the head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party - who has responsibilities for all aspects of China's foreign policy.
Liu Jianchao and Peters have met several times before, including in May last year when he visited New Zealand, and everything was on the table from the bilateral relationship through to issues in the Indo-Pacific and the rest of the world.
There was no set agenda for the meeting allowing it to be free flowing in nature, which speaks to the depth of the relationship between the pair.
Winston Peters meets with the head of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party Liu Jianchao on Tuesday, 25 February in Beijing. Photo: Supplied
It is on Wednesday evening (NZT) Peters has his formal bilateral with his ministerial counterpart, Wang Yi, where very open talks are expected to take place about the three Chinese vessels which the NZDF said on Tuesday were sitting 218 nautical miles off Tasmania.
On Monday the ships were 280 nautical miles off Tasmania, but have inched closer, according to the New Zealand Defence Force, which along with its Australian counterpart is monitoring the ships.
They arrived in international waters off Australia last week and have conducted live firing exercises with little warning, prompting several commercial flight diversions at very short notice.
Australian aviation officials say the first they learnt of a potential Chinese live fire military exercise in the Tasman Sea was after a Virgin Airlines pilot relayed warnings he'd picked up mid-flight.
An Emirates flight from Sydney to Christchurch was directly warned by the Chinese military to avoid airspace on Friday morning, before Chinese vessels were believed to have conducted live fire exercises.
China's Ministry of National Defence spokesperson Wu Qian accused Australia of "deliberately hyping up" the live-fire exercises and denied it affected aviation safety.
Peters may well be told similar in his meeting with Wang Yi but given the closeness of the relationship between the two it's expected very open questions will be asked by both sides and plenty of listening will be done.
Previous meetings between them have been summarised as "always illuminating" with both comfortable speaking their mind.
China's Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang off the coast of Sydney last week. Photo: AFP / Australian Defence Force
Wang Yi was hosted by Peters in New Zealand in March last year, ahead of Liu Jianchao's visit in May, followed by Premier Li Qiang's in June.
The other discussion expected to take up much of their time is the multiple deals signed between China and the Cook Islands this month.
One deal made public - a memorandum of understanding between Rarotonga and Beijing - promises investment in the "blue economy" and could include allowing Chinese construction of ports, wharves, and the presence of ships in the Cook Islands.
With the Cook Islands a realm country of New Zealand there was an expectation from Peters and the government that any details of any agreements with other nations would first be shared with New Zealand.
That did not happen ahead of them being signed and the government is still working its way through analysing what has been made public and what impact it might have on New Zealand.
Peters made clear in a foreign affairs speech before heading out on his latest overseas visit - stopping first in Saudi Arabia and the UAE - that a formal "reset" of the relationship with the Cook Islands was now required.
His meeting with Wang Yi might shed some new light on the agreements signed with the Cook Islands and what impact, if any, they might have on the wider Pacific.
Outside of regional common interests and points of disagreement, Peters is likely to want to get Wang Yi's views on issues in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine with Russia.
The role of the United States Administration under President Donald Trump in all of those areas will also be discussion-worthy.
In addition to his meeting with Wang Yi, Peters is expected on Wednesday to meet with a Chinese counterpart of similar office to his role as deputy prime minister, likely a vice-Premier.
Together, those three meetings will pave the way for Christopher Luxon's expected visit to China in the coming months.
Both sides have publicly acknowledged a desire for a state visit to go ahead - it would be Luxon's first as Prime Minister to China, but not his first meeting with President Xi Jinping.
The pair met on the sidelines of APEC in Peru in November where Luxon raised New Zealand's concerns about missile testing in the Pacific - concerns Xi disagreed with.
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