Q+A: Susan Wood interviews Arthur Loo
Sunday 7th April,
2013
Q+A: Susan Wood interviews
Arthur Loo
Auckland Chinese
community leader says New Zealand has nothing to fear from
Chinese investment:
A highly respected
member of the Auckland Chinese community says that if New
Zealand is going to have a debate about Chinese investment
in the country it should be a debate about all overseas
investment.
Auckland Chinese Community Centre
chairman Arthur Loo told TV One’s Q+A programme that, for
example, all of New Zealand’s major banks are
foreign-owned, meaning billions of dollars flow out of the
country, and that the percentage of NZ farmland owned by
Chinese was tiny in comparison to Australian, American, the
UK and the Dutch.
Loo is currently visiting China
as part of Prime Minister John Key’s trade delegation.
He told Q+A’s Susan Wood that NZ had nothing more to
fear from Chinese investment than it did from investment
from any other major country.
“It’s a business
relationship, so a business relationship, irrespective of
who you are contracting with, there are always ups and
downs…China is a major power now, a major trading nation,
so we’ve got to make the most of our opportunities. You
know, New Zealand doesn’t produce enough of its own
capital. You know, we don’t supply our own capital. So the
only way we’re going to get capital is through trading and
doing business with other countries, and one of those other
countries has to be China.”
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Q+A
SUSAN
WOOD INTERVIEWS ARTHUR LOO
SUSAN
WOOD
Arthur Loo is a Chinese Kiwi who’s done
well. He’s chairman of the Auckland Chinese Community,
partner in Loo and Koo Barristers and Solicitors,
Australasia’s largest South-East Asian-focused law firm,
and he’s on the Prime Minister’s trade trip to China. Mr
Loo is also involved in a lot of community work and has
earned the Queen’s Service Medal. Just before he left for
China I asked him the significance of the large delegation
and the trip to China.
ARTHUR LOO,
Auckland Chinese Community Chairperson
I think
it’s significant, not only from the Chinese perspective
but from the New Zealand perspective. I mean, we Chinese who
live in New Zealand are, I think, you know, quite excited
that he is going, and it’s a significant event, because he
is visiting China at an early stage of the new Chinese
leadership.
SUSAN
Yes, how important is it for our prime minister to meet this
leadership? Because all things being equal, they will be
there for some time.
ARTHUR A lot of it is
symbolic. Chinese people set great store on face to face
meeting, face to face contact. You know, it’s not stuff
that you can do over the telephone or now via the internet.
So it’s important, I think, that our leadership is there
meeting the new Chinese
leaders.
SUSAN
And a prime minister and we’re talking many ministers on
this, they hold a lot of mana, don’t they, in China? It
really is an important thing.
ARTHUR Yes. Again,
Chinese set great store on status, so having several cabinet
ministers there indicates to them that, you know, New
Zealand takes the relationship seriously and that we have so
many people of status along on the delegation.
SUSAN How do we
measure the success of a trip like this? We will no doubt
have announcements of this bit of business and that bit of
business, but how do we actually measure the
success?
ARTHUR I’m
not sure that it is immediately measureable. It’ll be
through, I guess, the goodwill of the Chinese government
towards New Zealand. It’s part of the on-going
relationship that New Zealand has developed with China, I
think. China has a fairly good benign view of New Zealand,
and therefore I think, you know, we’re fortunate to have
Prime Minister Key go and visit so soon after President Xi
has taken office.
SUSAN
How deep, though, how real is that
relationship? You look at our relationship with Australia,
and we are very close. It’s like cousins. America we’re
even very, very good friends with now. But how would you
characterise the New Zealand-Chinese relationship?
ARTHUR I think it’s
warm. As the previous premier said, it’s probably never
been better. So I think it’s a very strong relationship. I
don’t think we should underestimate how, I think, well
regarded we are by the Chinese and the Chinese government,
through some of the things that we’ve done in the past.
You know, credit where credit’s due. I think the Helen
Clark government did a lot to, I think, encourage that
relationship.
SUSAN
They like the independent voice of New Zealand, don’t
they? They like the fact that we will walk our own path and
not necessarily follow the Americans or anybody else.
ARTHUR Yes, I think
that’s very
true.
SUSAN How
much influence does that give us, that independent voice, in
the Pacific, when we are poised at the bottom of the region
-as we all know, the greatest growth region in the
world?
ARTHUR I think
it’s important, because China regards New Zealand as being
principled and having the spine to adopt a reasonably
independent view, independent stance in international
politics. Just because we haven’t jumped to, say, the
American’s tune necessarily. And so I think China, you
know, admires that degree of
independence.
SUSAN
Five years of FTA with China. The first in the world. Our
exports have tripled to nearly $7 billion over that time.
But are we doing enough? Are our businesses getting in
there, investing and doing
enough?
ARTHUR We
could certainly do better. I mean, New Zealanders are very
innovative. I think we’re easy to get along with. We’re
very approachable. So, you can’t measure, I guess, our
success just in the immediate terms. I think we could do
better in our relationships. New Zealanders, I think, have
got to understand that they’ve got to persevere. We’ve
got to realise that the whole world is beating a path to the
door of China and, you know, people in China do not wake up
in the mornings thinking about New Zealand. We have to be
persistent. We have to be smarter. We have to play to our
strengths. The things that we are good at doing, the
products that we are good at
producing.
SUSAN
Maori. We have a lot of tribal settlements here. Dr Pita
Sharples, again, going to China. Do you see some very real
relationships developing between Maori, who have money and
can do things with it, and Chinese?
ARTHUR Certainly. I
know that the minister has already led two delegations to
China. But one of the things that I think Maori maybe could
look at is to look at doing business with some of the
minority groups in China. I mean, the Han people are the
majority, but there are 50-odd other minority groups in
China, and some of them are quite significant and I think
the Chinese leadership would quite like that. I think it’s
a nice story that the one indigenous group is doing business
with another indigenous group.
SUSAN Why are
New Zealanders so afraid of China? I mean, Americans can
come and buy our farmland, the Australians can come and buy
our farmland, James Cameron can come and buy whatever he
wants to by - no one says peep. The Chinese come in and buy
Crafar Farms and we are all up in arms about it.
Why?
ARTHUR I’m not
sure that we could say that all New Zealanders are afraid. I
mean, segments of society, I think, maybe get a bit more
strident when there is some aspects of Chinese investment.
But I think by and large New
Zealanders-
SUSAN
Should we be worried about Chinese
investment?
ARTHUR
Well, I don’t think it’s particularly Chinese
investment, but if we’re going to have a debate about
overseas investment, we should have a debate about all
overseas investment. I mean, for example, all our banks are
foreign owned, and billions flow out through our banks. You
know, the percentage of farmland that Chinese own is tiny in
comparison to Australian, American, United Kingdom and
Dutch. So, you know, I think the Crafar Farms was an
unfortunate point. But, you know, I think we’re going to
get over it. I think the Chinese understand that in an open
democratic society that somebody can challenge the process,
and it doesn’t necessarily represent the view of all New
Zealanders.
SUSAN Do we
have anything to fear from
China?
ARTHUR Not
necessarily. I mean, no more than we have to fear from any
major country that we do business with. I mean, it’s a
business relationship, so a business relationship,
irrespective of who you are contracting with, there are
always ups and downs. I think, as I said before, China has a
fairly benign relationship with us. You know, China is a
major power now, a major trading nation, so we’ve got to
make the most of our opportunities. You know, New Zealand
doesn’t produce enough of its own capital. You know, we
don’t supply our own capital. So the only way we’re
going to get capital is through trading and doing business
with other countries, and one of those other countries has
to be
China.
SUSAN
Arthur Loo, thank you for your time this
morning.
ARTHUR
You’re very
welcome.
ENDS