China, NZ should push forward bilateral ties: Foreign Ministry

China and New Zealand should enhance mutual trust, strengthen cooperation and remove any disturbance to push forward bilateral ties, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday.

The remarks came after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described her country's relationship with China as "robust and mature" on Monday at a news conference.

Ardern said that reports saying Beijing was warning Chinese visitors away from New Zealand were wrong, the Guardian reported.

"New Zealand and China have differences of views on some issues, as we do with any other country," Ardern said. "However this is a robust and mature relationship. We manage these differences together in a mutually respectful way."

Geng said that the sound and steady development of the China-New Zealand relationship conforms to the interests of both countries, as well as their people.

New Zealand has been a pace-setter among Western developed countries in terms of relations with China, he said, adding that a number of "firsts" have been achieved in bilateral cooperation.

New Zealand was the first Western developed country to conclude bilateral negotiations on China's accession into the WTO, the first to recognize China's full market economy status, the first to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with China and the first to become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Relations between the two countries face new opportunities, he said, adding that China stands ready to work with New Zealand to advance bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.