Schmidt Hernández, Fernando2022-05-022022-05-022018Hernandez FMS. Breaking the South-South FTA Mould: Why China ‘Went OECD’ with New Zealand? China Report. 2018;54(4):421-441. doi:10.1177/0009445518795964https://doi.org/10.1177/0009445518795964http://hdl.handle.net/11447/6044China and New Zealand were able to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2008, in spite of the large differences in standards under which they were respectively negotiating trade agreements in the international arena. This article starts with a descriptive analysis of these differences between each country’s standards in terms of FTA quality. With the description of these standards, which seem to stand on opposite sides of a continuum, we examine why China and New Zealand decided to forego the standards under which they had negotiated previous agreements in order to find a middle ground. This process of convergence showcases how the interests of both parties moved them towards the adoption of a middle ground which enabled them to negotiate a win-win agreement.enConvergenceFTA qualityTrade negotiationsTrade liberalisationChinaNew ZealandArticle