Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has arrived in China ahead of his meeting with China's leader Xi Jinping.
Hipkins is leading a trade delegation to Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai which will last from June 25 to 30. It is the first prime ministerial visit to China since the pandemic.
It's the largest ever delegation for a prime minister's trip. Travelling with Hipkins are industry leaders in air travel, tourism and tertiary education.
When announcing the trip earlier this month but before the visit with Xi was confirmed, he was asked how he would navigate raising human rights abuses or grievances.
Hipkins said New Zealand had prided itself on being "stable and consistent" in its approach.
"That means that where we have human rights concerns we will raise them. Where we have concerns around trade or any other foreign policy issue, we will raise those.
"Our relationship with China has always been based on setting out, clearly, our position, and being consistent in our position, and we'll continue to do that."
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