Like Australia, New Zealand's links with Singapore were through Britain. Because they are further away from Asia, New Zealanders did not feel so threatened during World War II by the possibility of Japanese invasion and were less suspicious of Asians.
They took their share of Vietnamese refugees and were less nervous about boat people pouring onto their shores. This attitude was to undergo a change by the 1990s after they had experienced more Asian immigration.
— Lee Kuan Yew on NZ's attitudes towards Asians; From Third World to First (2000)
Borderless Asia
Like Australia, New Zealand's links with Singapore were through Britain. Because they are further away from Asia, New Zealanders did not feel so threatened during World War II by the possibility of Japanese invasion and were less suspicious of Asians.
They took their share of Vietnamese refugees and were less nervous about boat people pouring onto their shores. This attitude was to undergo a change by the 1990s after they had experienced more Asian immigration.
— Lee Kuan Yew on NZ's attitudes towards Asians; From Third World to First (2000)
Rewatch Lee's views on New Zealand here: https://youtu.be/FFD3ICTr96Y
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