(CNN)A former New Zealand prime minister has been quoted lavishing praise on China as the country’s current leader continues to deny reports of a rift between Wellington and Beijing.
In a piece published by Chinese state-run People’s Daily on Monday, Jenny Shipley, a former leader of the conservative National Party and prime minister from 1997 to 1999, commended China’s “huge contributions to the world’s economic growth” and its “great efforts” to promote reform.
“China has actively signed free trade agreements with neighbors and other countries in and out of the region, aiming to find out ways to work together,” Shipley said in the article, headlined “We need to learn to listen to China.”
