It was reported in a recent weekend edition of the New Zealand
Herald that our Foreign Minister (Murray McCully) had been ‘mortified’ by
certain information that had come to him.
What was it, one might wonder, that had so discomforted the minister and
caused such frantic activity in his department?
Was it a new appreciation of the continuing economic melt-down in
Europe, with its clear implications for the vulnerable Chinese economy and the
inevitable knock-on to our trade with China, on which we so much depend? This, together with fresh data on the
perceptible slow-down in the economy of our nearest neighbour, and largest
economic partner, Australia, would certainly have been of concern.
