Lindsay Watt
Lindsay Johnstone Watt was born in 1934 in Lincoln, New Zealand. He became a prominent New Zealand diplomat, holding several senior posts over his career.
He served as High Commissioner to the Cook Islands from 16 February 1980 to 17 March 1982, and then as High Commissioner to Fiji from 1982 to 1985. He was New Zealand’s ambassador to China from 1985 to 1990, and from 1993 to 2003 he was the administrator of Tokelau, the first to serve in that role full-time.
Early in his career, Watt was third secretary at the New Zealand mission to the United Nations in New York (1960–1963), first secretary at the New Zealand embassy in Bangkok (1969), and counsellor at the New Zealand High Commission in London (1976).
Education and personal life: He attended St Andrew’s College in Christchurch (1948–1951) and Victoria University College, where he earned a Master of Arts with second-class honours in 1957. He married Priscilla Pirie Cabot Morrison; she died in 1987. His father was George James Watt and his mother Dorothy Watt.
China years and writings: In 1985 Watt became ambassador in Beijing. He visited Guizhou province and met Hu Jintao, who would later become China’s president; Watt noted Hu’s potential as a future leader. He wrote the book New Zealand and China towards 2000 (1992), in which he predicted China would become New Zealand’s largest export market by the early 2000s.
Tokelau years: As administrator of Tokelau, Watt worked with Tokelauan leaders to develop a new constitution for a self-governing Tokelau. This work laid groundwork for self-determination referendums in 2006 and 2007, which asked Tokelau to become self-governing in free association with New Zealand, but both referendums failed.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:00 (CET).