New Zealand’s recovery from COVID-19 will be tied to Asia’s recovery, reveals a new survey
Covid-19 global pandemic fails to dent New Zealanders’ growing confidence in Asia, a new survey reveals
A new survey has revealed that even the Covid-19 global pandemic scare, has failed to dent into New Zealanders’ growing confidence in Asia.
In fact, a whopping 79 per cent of New Zealanders who participated in the survey in March 2020 said that it was important for New Zealand to develop political, economic and social ties with Asia - a sharp increase from 67 per cent from an earlier survey in November 2019.
New Zealanders view Asia as the second-most important region to New Zealand, behind only Australia, the survey reveals.
Asia NZ Foundation is New Zealand’s leading authority on Asia, tasked with the responsibility of preparing New Zealanders about the knowledge of Asia in the twenty-first century.
The main survey was carried out in November 2019 and at that time, two-thirds (67 per cent) of New Zealanders said that it was important for New Zealand to develop political, economic and social ties with Asia.
However, it was the second round of the same survey taken out in March 2020, when the world had already been hit by the Covid-19 with many countries already started border closures and travel restrictions that the New Zealanders’ confidence in Asia witnessed a massive bump and reaching an all-time high of 79 per cent.
The Foundation has been tracking New Zealanders’ perceptions of Asia since 1997 and commissioned Colmar Brunton to lead the research for this report.
Asia New Zealand Foundation executive director Simon Draper said it is more critical than ever for New Zealanders to grow their knowledge and understanding of Asia. “New Zealand’s recovery is tied to Asia’s recovery in many respects: economic, social, geographic and through our people. “Border and travel restrictions mean we will need to work harder to stay connected, which our strong people-to-people links will help with.”
The survey shows that for the first time, more than half (51 per cent) of New Zealanders felt they had at least a fair amount of knowledge about Asia. “We’re still really encouraged to see that confidence and knowledge of Asia is growing, but it still lags behind our self-assessed knowledge of the United Kingdom, North America, the South Pacific, and Europe,” Mr Draper said.
Knowledge about “South Asia” still limited
New Zealanders confidence and knowledge about different sub-regions in Asia varied, with North Asia being seen as ‘important or very important’ to New Zealand’s future (74 per cent) compared to South Asia (36 per cent).
The results show a significant gap between self-assessed knowledge of North Asia (42 per cent), Southeast Asia (30 per cent), and South Asia (22 per cent).
This seems to be very much a reflection of New Zealand’s political, economic, cultural and people to people, relationship with these sub-regions of South Asia.
For a long time, New Zealand had enjoyed a robust economic or/and political relationship with the countries in North & South East Asia, such as Japan, China & Singapore.
The survey also revealed that New Zealanders identified Japan is their closest partner in Asia.
North Korea was the only country seen to present a significant threat to New Zealand, with 59 per cent of respondents viewing it as either a threat or a major threat.
Others rated as posing some kind of threat – but significantly behind North Korea – were Russia, China and Pakistan.
The latest report in the annual New Zealanders’ Perceptions of Asia and Asian Peoples tracking survey highlights the various ways New Zealanders are connected to Asia, including personal links, travel experiences and interests.
Covid-19 global pandemic fails to dent New Zealanders’ growing confidence in Asia, a new survey reveals
A new survey has revealed that even the Covid-19 global pandemic scare, has failed to dent into New Zealanders’ growing confidence in Asia.
In fact, a whopping 79 per cent of New Zealanders who...
Covid-19 global pandemic fails to dent New Zealanders’ growing confidence in Asia, a new survey reveals
A new survey has revealed that even the Covid-19 global pandemic scare, has failed to dent into New Zealanders’ growing confidence in Asia.
In fact, a whopping 79 per cent of New Zealanders who participated in the survey in March 2020 said that it was important for New Zealand to develop political, economic and social ties with Asia - a sharp increase from 67 per cent from an earlier survey in November 2019.
New Zealanders view Asia as the second-most important region to New Zealand, behind only Australia, the survey reveals.
Asia NZ Foundation is New Zealand’s leading authority on Asia, tasked with the responsibility of preparing New Zealanders about the knowledge of Asia in the twenty-first century.
The main survey was carried out in November 2019 and at that time, two-thirds (67 per cent) of New Zealanders said that it was important for New Zealand to develop political, economic and social ties with Asia.
However, it was the second round of the same survey taken out in March 2020, when the world had already been hit by the Covid-19 with many countries already started border closures and travel restrictions that the New Zealanders’ confidence in Asia witnessed a massive bump and reaching an all-time high of 79 per cent.
The Foundation has been tracking New Zealanders’ perceptions of Asia since 1997 and commissioned Colmar Brunton to lead the research for this report.
Asia New Zealand Foundation executive director Simon Draper said it is more critical than ever for New Zealanders to grow their knowledge and understanding of Asia. “New Zealand’s recovery is tied to Asia’s recovery in many respects: economic, social, geographic and through our people. “Border and travel restrictions mean we will need to work harder to stay connected, which our strong people-to-people links will help with.”
The survey shows that for the first time, more than half (51 per cent) of New Zealanders felt they had at least a fair amount of knowledge about Asia. “We’re still really encouraged to see that confidence and knowledge of Asia is growing, but it still lags behind our self-assessed knowledge of the United Kingdom, North America, the South Pacific, and Europe,” Mr Draper said.
Knowledge about “South Asia” still limited
New Zealanders confidence and knowledge about different sub-regions in Asia varied, with North Asia being seen as ‘important or very important’ to New Zealand’s future (74 per cent) compared to South Asia (36 per cent).
The results show a significant gap between self-assessed knowledge of North Asia (42 per cent), Southeast Asia (30 per cent), and South Asia (22 per cent).
This seems to be very much a reflection of New Zealand’s political, economic, cultural and people to people, relationship with these sub-regions of South Asia.
For a long time, New Zealand had enjoyed a robust economic or/and political relationship with the countries in North & South East Asia, such as Japan, China & Singapore.
The survey also revealed that New Zealanders identified Japan is their closest partner in Asia.
North Korea was the only country seen to present a significant threat to New Zealand, with 59 per cent of respondents viewing it as either a threat or a major threat.
Others rated as posing some kind of threat – but significantly behind North Korea – were Russia, China and Pakistan.
The latest report in the annual New Zealanders’ Perceptions of Asia and Asian Peoples tracking survey highlights the various ways New Zealanders are connected to Asia, including personal links, travel experiences and interests.
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