紐西蘭因為政治地緣關係較為偏僻，且經濟資源和軍事規模均有限，因此常被歸類為小型國家或中型國家。而和澳洲外交方向相似的是，紐西蘭提倡「中型強權」（middle power）外交，致力於區域間和全球層次正式及非正式建制與聯盟的組成。以紐西蘭經貿制度為例，早年聚焦在多邊合作，以多邊為主，區域次之，雙邊為輔。然而，由於杜哈回合的遲滯以及全球貿易環境改變，紐西蘭追求更實利導向、更具野心的FTA策略。中型強權在國際權力層級中往往扮演與強權結盟、與同屬中型強權的國家發展夥伴關係，並肩負領導小國（small power）責任的角色。有鑑於國際關係理論中各學派對於中型強權的定義和看法不一，本文首先將歸納國際關係各學派對於中型強權的理論文獻，釐清和評述其內容，包括各文獻對中型強權的定義、論述與研究途徑等主張，並從檢視FTA 不同的策略功能面向，探討紐西蘭在與不同國家簽訂FTA時如何實現中型強權的角色。

The geopolitics of New Zealand is so isolated and empowered withlimited economic and military resource so as to be classified into small ormedium states. Similar to Australia’s foreign policy direction, New Zealandpromotes “middle power” foreign policy to contribute to building formal andinformal regime and institutions in view of region development. New Zealand ’strade system which focused on the multilateral cooperation and made regionaland bilateral cooperation as supplement can be exemplified as “middle power”foreign policy. However, since the suspension of Doha Round andtransformation of global trade environment, New Zealand decided to pursuemore pragmatic and aggressive FTA strategy.The development of New Zealand’s middle power foreign policy could beexplored from the view of its regional development and regional role. And thisrole must be connected with the picture of international hierarchy powersystem that encountering with great power, building coalition with middlepower colleagues and leading small nations. From views of the diverse schoolsin international relations, this essay will explore, clarify and comment theirdifferent definitions, courses and research approaches of middle power at first.Secondly, it will exam some cases from the dimension of New Zealand’s FTAstrategies to observe how the middle power exerting regional role with differentcountries. Finally, this essay will conclude with the diverse research approachesfor the FTAs that New Zealand negotiated.