New Zealand’s first wahine and Māori trade commissioner to Taiwan, Tina Wilson, has accomplished a lot over her tenure in Taiwan.
She has increased New Zealand’s trade footprint but one thing she is particularly proud of is strengthening the ties between Māori and the indigenous Taiwanese.
As the end of her tenure draws near in the coming months, Wilson is reflecting fondly on her ground-breaking move to Taiwan back in late 2020.
“I’m a Māori woman first and foremost, that’s how I turn up every single day. And I probably didn’t mention that the first thing I wanted to do was go and find our people.”
Wilson is a mum to four kids and a descendant of Ngāti Tūkorehe. One of her objectives in her role has been to strengthen the relationship of indigenous peoples of these two homelands.
“It’s different here, 16 different iwi. They’ve got different challenges, each of those iwi. When you turn up and you look like me, I’m white and a blondie, I think staying and spending time listening, not wanting anything from anybody other than to connect with them, is really important.”
While she has been trades commissioner, export sales to Taiwan have grown rapidly, with New Zealand exports there topping nearly $300 million worth of product, and industries like dairy, food and beverage, and meat pivotal in the growth of New Zealand’s economic footprint in Taiwan.
“In regards to our portfolio in Taiwan in general we’re about 80% food and beverage or FMCG products that come up here into Taiwan. The rest is in specialised manufacturing and then into technology. That could be SAAS, Software as a Service, or other type of things that we produce and supply here. This is the Silicon Valley of Asia, that’s what they say on the billboard,s so we’re going to roll with that.”
In 2013 New Zealand signed a free-trade agreement with Taiwan and a part of the agreement focuses on the rights of indigenous peoples.
That has been a challenge picked up by Wilson.
“When we naturally do what we do, it’s not an act, it’s not a performance. You’re trying to make it as authentic as possible and make sure the right people are in the room to receive that authentic engagement as well. Culturally first and then everything else just happens that much more easy.”