Jacinda Ardern has been praised by
China's authoritarian regime for 'deepening its cooperation' with Beijing and steering New Zealand away from its Five Eyes allies. The Kiwi leader has tried to strike a balance between appeasing its largest trading partner China, and maintaining its security partnerships with other western democracies - Australia, the US, the UK and
Canada. New Zealand was the only member of the intelligence network not to condemn China's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in
Hong Kong and has largely remained silent on Beijing's campaign of economic coercion against Australia.
