Crowds gather in Auckland as Chinese premier meets business leaders

A large crowd gathered outside the Cordis Hotel in central Auckland on Friday to support and protest Chinese premier Li Qiang's visit to New Zealand.

More than 150 people were assembled on the footpath amid tense scenes outside the hotel on both sides of the road on Friday evening.

Junying Li of the Onehunga Chinese Association said she had been waiting outside the hotel since 7am, happy to brave the heavy showers that hit the city throughout the morning.

Li hoped the premier's visit would help New Zealand and China enhance their bilateral relationship.

"We are very eager to see the leaders of our country form a friendly alliance with New Zealand and hope that they will have new inspiration during this communication and bring us new hope," Li said.

"This is what we overseas Chinese hope for our motherland, and we give our best wishes for the friendship between China and New Zealand. Our clothes are wet from the rain and so is our hair, but our hearts are still warm."

Judy Liu attended the rally protesting Beijing's treatment of the Falun Gong spiritual group.

Liu said her group wanted to raise awareness of the Chinese government's violation of human rights.

"I see this country as my homeland because it gave me a second life and gave me freedom of belief," Liu said. "The last place I want to be taken over by the Chinese regime is in New Zealand. I will guard this country with my life."

Liu said clashes had occurred between supporters of Li's visit and protestors earlier in the day, with several protestors' banners being damaged and some protestors being pushed and elbowed.

The police said they were aware of secondhand reports of an alleged assault on a woman at the protest, but they had not received an official complaint and no arrests had been made.

Earlier in the day, the Chinese premier had expressed interest in further co-operation with New Zealand on food research.

Li visited the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research in Auckland on the second day of his visit.

The institute's chief executive, Mark Piper, praised the long-term working relationship between the two countries in agriculture and food.

Li said many products from New Zealand, including kiwifruit and Rockit apples, were popular with Chinese people.

He said he would encourage Chinese scientific institutes to co-operate further with their New Zealand counterparts.

Dozens of Chinese people had stood outside the institute in heavy rain to welcome Li upon his arrival.

Premier Li is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit New Zealand in seven years.

The trip coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

Li received an official welcome on Thursday before a formal meeting at Government House in Wellington, where a range of topics were discussed, including bilateral trade and human rights.

The visit also comes against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions.

Li visited the Auckland War Memorial Museum in the evening to attend an education forum and meet delegates from the New Zealand China Council before sharing a dinner with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and other politicians, business leaders and community representatives.

Dozens of people gathered in front of the museum, waving Chinese flags, holding banners and singing patriotic songs such as My Homeland (Wǒ De Zǔ Guó) and My Motherland and Me (Wǒ Hé Wǒ de Zǔ Guó).

Both Li and Luxon delivered keynote speeches during the dinner.

Luxon extended his welcome to Li and his delegation, and said the visit was an indication of the Chinese government's commitment to the two countries' bilateral relationship.

"Your visit builds on the many, many previous engagements of the leaders of our two countries and relationships have developed over many decades," Luxon said.

"I think leader-to-leader level exchanges like this also provide us with a very crucial platform for diplomatic dialogue and to navigate areas of difference predicably and consistently."

Li said China and New Zealand shared a lot of things in common, including beautiful landscapes, a value placed on technological innovation and a longing for world peace.

"It has been 52 years since our two countries established diplomatic relations," Li said. "China-New Zealand relations have long led China's relations with developed countries. We have created many firsts together.

"We all emphasize that countries should live in harmony with each other, have dialogue instead of confrontation and cooperate instead of conflict. Only in this way can we jointly safeguard peace of the world.

"We have broad space for cooperation. We must consolidate the foundation for cooperation in traditional fields such as biomedicine, agriculture and food.

"At the same time ... we must deeply tap the potential for cooperation in emerging fields such as new energy and a digital economy to create more mutually beneficial, win-win situations."