新西兰先驱报中文网 Hao报道 到访新西兰的中国国务院总理李克强今天（3月27日）在《新西兰先驱报》刊登署名文章，向新西兰人民阐述了中新两国友好关系的过去、现在以及未来发展方向。

新西兰先驱报版面截图

李克强在文章开头，向热情好客的新西兰人民致以真诚的问候。他引用了一句毛利谚语“把目标定在最高的云上，即便你不能成功，也能抵达高山（Aim for the highest cloud, so that if you miss it, you will hit a lofty mountain）”，引出中国和新西兰建交45年来的攀上的众多高峰——新西兰是第一个就中国加入世界贸易组织同中国结束双边谈判、承认中国完全市场经济地位、同中国签署并实施双边自由贸易协定、以创始国身份加入由中国倡导的亚洲基础设施投资银行、举办全国范围中文周的西方发达国家。

李克强此行的一个焦点，是推动中新双边自贸协定的升级谈判。李克强将两国宣布启动谈判的做法放在全球经济复苏疲软、保护主义抬头和反全球化浪潮涌现的大背景下，进行了阐述和展望。

李克强指出，连续四年，中国成为新西兰最大的贸易伙伴。中国也是新西兰最大的海外留学生来源地，以及第二大的游客来源地。每个星期，约有50个直飞航班飞越太平洋，往来于两国之间。

在如何推动两国关系向前的问题，李克强引用了新西兰著名登山家埃德蒙•希拉里爵士的话，“我们征服的不是高山，而是我们自己”。他指出，中新两国合作要加强高技术驱动、高附加值、全产业链的合作。李克强还点出了可以开拓的新领域，宝库电子商务、生物制药、节能和环境保护，以及基础设施发展等。

李克强在文中承诺，中国已经准备好从新西兰进口更多有竞争力和高质量的货物，为中国消费者提供更多选择，同时推动中国企业更具竞争力。

李克强全文充满了开放的态度。他表示，全球化进程仍将继续向前，就像人不能因噎废食。“大门一旦打开，就不应该关闭。”

在文化上，李克强点出中国文化注重开放与包容的特点，以及新西兰多元文化的活力。他还举出电影《指环王》和《霍比特人》系列作为例子，显示出对新西兰文化的了解。

“会当凌绝顶，一览众山小”李克强引用了杜甫的《望岳》作为结尾，表示对中新关系更光明的未来和更美好的世界充满信心。

以下为李克强总理全文：

As I am about to begin my official visit to New Zealand, “the land of the long white cloud”, I wish to extend my sincere greetings to the warm and hospitable people of this country. It will be my first visit as the Chinese premier, but I have long been drawn to New Zealand for its diverse culture, vibrant economy and natural beauty. This year being the 45th anniversary of our diplomatic relations, I very much hope that my visit will contribute to tightening the bond of our friendship and elevating our mutually-beneficial cooperation.

As a Maori proverb goes, “Aim for the highest cloud, so that if you miss it, you will hit a lofty mountain.”

For many years, China and New Zealand have aimed high and made relentless efforts to develop our relations and cooperation. Together, we kept on scaling new heights and setting new records in China’s relations with Western developed countries. New Zealand was the first Western developed country to conclude bilateral negotiations on China’s WTO accession, the first to recognize China’s full market economy status, the first to sign and implement a bilateral Free Trade Agreement with China, the first to join the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member, and the first to hold a nationwide Chinese Language Week, to name a few.

The recent announcement by our countries to launch negotiations on upgrading our FTA has added yet another new record to the long list of our ground-breaking cooperation. This is great news not just for our countries, but also sends a positive signal of support for trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, especially in the context of weak global economic recovery, rising protectionism and bitter backlash against globalization. I hope and believe that we will continue to scale new heights in our friendship and cooperation to deliver even more benefits to both our peoples.

To scale new heights, we need to go further than what we have achieved to start anew. In the past 45 years of our diplomatic ties, our relations and cooperation have reached unprecedented levels and our interests have become more intertwined than ever before. For four years in a row, China has been New Zealand’s number one trading partner. We are the largest source of foreign students and the second largest of tourists for New Zealand. Each week, about 50 direct flights travel across the Pacific between our countries.

The question now is how can we do even better? Let me quote from a well-known New Zealand mountaineer, Sir Edmund Hillary, who said, “It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” For China-New Zealand relations and cooperation to go further, we cannot rest on our laurels. Rather, we need to fully harness our comparative strengths, and unleash our potential for common development by synergizing our development strategies.

For example, now that we have a fairly stable trade relationship on farm products, we need to move beyond import and export and promote high-tech driven, high value-added, whole-industrial-chain cooperation. We may also explore new areas such as e-commerce, bio-pharmaceuticals, energy conservation and environmental protection and infrastructure development, to foster new growth areas in bilateral cooperation.

To scale new heights, we need to confront challenges and surmount difficulties. By overcoming difficulties today we will be better able to make progress tomorrow. Rising instability and uncertainty in the international landscape has made it all the more important for China and New Zealand to work together to turn challenges into opportunities. We need to jointly uphold world peace and regional stability, promote economic globalization, build an open world economy, and make new contribution to development and prosperity of our region and the world.

Over the past eight years since the entry into force of the China-New Zealand FTA, bilateral trade has increased nearly three folds, delivering real benefits to the two peoples. Despite its trade deficit with New Zealand, China remains committed to seize the opportunity of FTA upgrading negotiations to facilitate greater mutual openness of our markets. We are ready to import more goods from New Zealand that are competitive and high-quality, to provide more choices for Chinese consumers and push Chinese companies towards greater competitiveness.

We have every reason to believe that globalization will continue to move forward despite its setbacks, just as one should not stop eating for fear of getting choked. And the door, once opened, should not be closed. China and New Zealand should take real actions to advance regional economic integration, to inject greater driving force for regional and even global economic recovery and the resumption of robust growth.

To scale greater heights also means we will enjoy a better view of the diverse landscape of our world. Thanks to our strategic vision and long-term perspective, China and New Zealand have been able to transcend differences in national conditions, development stage, culture and tradition to achieve win-win outcomes on the basis of mutual respect and equality.

The Chinese civilization values openness and inclusiveness, and New Zealand is known for its multi-cultural dynamism. I was told that the New Zealand people have a strong interest in the Chinese culture and language, and more and more of them turn out for Spring Festival and Lantern Festival celebrations. And the Chinese people are fascinated by the unique, unspoiled sceneries of New Zealand, as displayed in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Cultural and people-to-people exchanges have facilitated our harmonious coexistence and sincere cooperation. And mutual respect for development paths chosen in light of our respective national conditions will help the two sides build mutual trust and learn from each other.

Drawing on our experiences, China and New Zealand should jointly call for diversity of world civilizations, and add more color and splendor to the development of world cultures. We believe diversity makes the world more colorful, and having one more possibility means more hope and promise.

As a Chinese poem reads, “Try to ascend the mountain’s crest: it dwarfs all peaks under our feet.” I am confident that our joint efforts to scale new heights will create an even brighter future for China-New Zealand relations and make our world a more splendid place.