William Bryce Harland (11 December 1931 – 1 February 2006) was a New Zealand diplomat and academic, who served as New Zealand's first Ambassador to China, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, and High Commissioner to London.

Biography

Harland was born in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

in 1931, and attended

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, where he received an MA (First Class) in History under the guidance of New Zealand historian J.C. Beaglehole in 1955, and at the

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations. As of 2017, the student bo ...

in Boston, where he received an AM. Harland was a highly regarded strategic thinker, who rose quickly through the ranks in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1973, Harland was appointed New Zealand's first Ambassador to China, where he was responsible for opening up diplomatic relations with that country. Harland has written of the period that until then, New Zealand's best-known connection with China was

Rewi Alley Rewi Alley (known in China as 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Aìlí, 2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) was a New Zealand-born writer and political activist. A member of the Chinese Communist Party, he dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause an ...

. Harland worked alongside other Western diplomats, including then-US representative in Peking,

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

, who described Harland as very pushy to extract as much information as the United States had on China at that time, despite liking him personally. In 1976, Harland returned to New Zealand as Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs, before taking up the post of Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York in 1982. In 1985, Harland became New Zealand's first professional diplomat to take up the post of High Commissioner to London, which he held until his retirement from the diplomatic service in 1991. Harland then served as Director of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, making a very substantial contribution to research on New Zealand's relationship with Asia. He was also a visiting fellow at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In 1990, Harland was awarded the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to 3,632 people. Background The New Zealand 1990 Com ...

. In the

1992 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1992 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, he was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The King's Service Order () established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant of Queen regnant, Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to t ...

for public services. Harland was regarded as a difficult personality to work for, but a brilliant strategic thinker. Harland was married twice, and had four sons, three of whom survived him.

References

External links

Obituary in the New Zealand HeraldNew Zealand Asian Studies Society newsletter, May 2006, p 16 (PDF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harland, Bryce 1931 births 2006 deaths New Zealand public servants Victoria University of Wellington alumni Permanent representatives of New Zealand to the United Nations People from Wellington City The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni High commissioners of New Zealand to the United Kingdom Ambassadors of New Zealand to China Ambassadors of New Zealand to Vietnam Companions of the Queen's Service Order