Bryce Harland
Encyclopedia
William "Bryce" Harland QSO
Queen's Service Order
The Queen's Service Order was established by Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, awarded by the government of New Zealand "for valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the public sector, whether in elected or...

, (1931-1 February 2006), distinguished 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.

Harland was born in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 in 1931, and attended Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...

, 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 in Boston, where he received an AM
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

.

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
Rewi Alley, 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Àilí, QSO, , was a New Zealand-born writer, educator, social reformer, potter, and member of the Communist Party of China....

. Harland worked alongside other Western diplomats, including then-US representative in Peking, George H.W. Bush, 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.

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.

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