Repackaging New Zealand and the struggle to 'sell' a nation

Christopher Luxon took along a very large business delegation during his trip to Japan. (Image: Supplied)

Mon, 08 Jul 2024

Singapore’s former prime minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, and New Zealand's current PM, Christopher Luxon, share something in common: both arrived in Japan flying commercial while leaders of their respective countries. But, of course, the stories they told were very different. For Lee, the act of flying commercial, or on a chartered flight, while visiting leaders was a mark of his incorruptibility. In a region where ideas of hierarchy reign supreme and leaders are typically marked out by motorcades, visible security and priv...

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