Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will be meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bangkok this afternoon, ahead of the APEC summit.

She says it will be an upfront and frank conversation, and on the agenda are global security issues, climate change, and economic trade.

Xi Jinping has recently been re-annointed as head of the authoritarian country for an unprecedented third term.

Auckland University China Studies Centre senior lecturer and director Dr Stephen Noakes spoke to Max Towle.