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Two MPs from opposite sides of Parliament say New Zealand needs to start “talking” about China’s “coercive diplomacy”, backing Australia in a worsening diplomatic and trade dispute.
National MP Simon O’Connor and Labor MP Louisa Wall have joined a group of international MPs to denounce China’s “abusive and intimidating behavior” after China imposed tariffs on Australian wine and a foreign official published a statement on Monday. Made up photo of an Australian soldier with a knife. to the throat of an Afghan child.
The mounting rhetoric has continued ever since. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Tuesday that New Zealand had expressed concern to Chinese authorities about the “non-factual” image. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying asked: “Does this matter have anything to do with New Zealand?”
The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid with strong ties to the Communist Party of China published an editorial titled “Kiwis Balan Like Australian Sheep But They Do Not Condemn Afghan Kills.”
THINGS / Things
Labor MP Louisa Wall and national MP Simon O’Connor are part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international group of lawmakers who speak out on China’s “coercive diplomacy.”
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Wall and O’Connor, both members of the former government’s foreign affairs, defense and trade select committee, have joined the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), which describes itself as “an international group of lawmakers working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China ”.
They say that China’s actions are very important if New Zealand wants to preserve and promote democracy.
O’Connor said Things that during his time as chair of the select committee, he learned of China’s attempted foreign interference, intimidation of Chinese citizens in New Zealand, and the “leakage” of information and research from New Zealand to China. This, he said, “sounded the alarms.”
“To be honest, they are still ringing,” he said. “This is something that I, excuse the French, I basically … freaked out over the last few years … and personally I feel we have to start talking.”
He said IPAC had chosen to speak out about China’s “coercive diplomacy” – most recently by sanctioning the Australian wine industry – and the “flagrant violation” of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover agreement with Britain.
O’Connor, in a video posted on a personal social media page, praised Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for tackling “bullying abusive behavior” by the Chinese Communist Party, from which he said New Zealand would not be immune.
“New Zealand should support Australia … I certainly believe that what is happening to Australia will happen to us,” O’Connor said. Things.
IPAC / Supplied
MPs around the world have appeared in a video campaign to convince people to drink Australian wine in December, in response to China’s decision to impose high tariffs on the product.
New Zealand had to wake up, he said, and realize that it had a “little” leverage as China’s middle class benefits from New Zealand’s exports.
“China is basically sending a little warning right now through Australia, and I think we should pay attention,” O’Connor said.
Wall said his time on the select committee had been a “turning point.” As a parliamentarian “defined by a focus on human rights”, she was particularly concerned about the plight of the persecuted Uighur minority in Xinjiang, the new national security law that China imposed in Hong Kong and the new evidence of organ trafficking in China. .
He said the committee had also discussed, in the context of New Zealand’s ‘Resettle Pacific’ diplomatic push, how China was using infrastructure loans, which often turned into crippling debt, to gain influence over some Pacific nations. .
“I can’t understand why that [financial support] It is not being treated as aid, instead of being treated as a loan, and I have serious concerns about that ongoing debt for some of our Pacific countries, ”Wall said.
Wall said she could say “with her hand on her heart” to say that no one had tried to dissuade her from expressing such views on China, and that she had been supported by the office of former Foreign Minister Winston Peters when she asked for information. .
He joined a “solidarity” video message for Australia’s wine industry in a video posted by IPAC on Tuesday night. The ad was about “colleagues who support other colleagues,” he said.
“We are standing up for our fellow Australians who seem to be going through a difficult time right now and are being intimidated by a global superpower that should really use its power for good,” Wall said.
“More and more people are becoming aware of what the problems are … We have to protect our democracy, and at the heart of all our democracies are the people. We do not believe in an authoritarian government. We reject that. “
