New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern insisted on Monday that China is not causing tensions in her country's relationship with Australia.
Her remarks came as her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison arrived on his first trip to New Zealand since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"When I think about the vast bulk of exchanges that Prime Minister Morrison and I have had in the last 15 months, this has not been an issue that has dominated our relationship at all," she told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report program.
On Australia's probe into the origins of coronavirus, Ardern said: "It is not for me to determine what it is that's caused the tensions that they have. But it's for me to comment or not whether New Zealand's position and our relationship is being portrayed accurately on not."
Besides trade disputes, relations between Beijing and Canberra turned sour after the latter joined its Western allies in seeking a probe into the origins of COVID-19, which first appeared in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
She said Australian media was not portraying that relationship accurately. "What I will stand firm on, though, we are an independent country, we will make our own foreign policy decisions."
Meanwhile, the two leaders met in Queenstown for the annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting, and issued a joint statement that condemned China's alleged excess in South China Sea and Xinjiang.
China has been accused of discrimination against Uyghurs in its northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region.
Rights groups say it has held up to a million Uyghurs in detention centers, which the state calls "re-education camps."
In March, both New Zealand and Australia welcomed sanctions by several western countries against China over its alleged abuse of the Muslim minority.
Earlier this month, New Zealand's parliament termed China's treatment of Uyghurs "severe human rights abuses" but did not label it as "genocide."
Ardern and Morrison also welcomed the May 21 cease-fire in Palestine. Israeli bombardment and attacks in Gaza and West Bank killed nearly 300 people besides vast material damage.
*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid
