Monday, June 30, 2008



As expected

The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee have reported back [PDF] on the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement and enacting legislation, and recommended that it be passed. While professing their concern for human rights in China, the Committee didn't see any problems with signing a preferential trade deal with one of the worst human rights abusers in the world. But then, did we really expect any different?

The report also includes as an appendix MFAT's National Interest Analysis of the deal, which doesn't mention human rights even once. Which I think shows you how much they care about our values and our international reputation.