A few notes for NZ's foreign minister as he prepares to meet his CCP counterpart this week. With trade always so dominant, I thought it would be useful to refresh the memory of a few other matters.
NZSIS last year revealed China’s intelligence keep targeting and interfering the ethnic Chinese communities living in NZ. Winston should raise this in front of Wang Yi.
We were an easy target for the CCP with their Belt & Road Initiative and only had to dangle an FTA to buy us off.
Your points are all very good ones and will no doubt be ignored by Winston. Simply because the ramifications of asking questions such as you suggest are far to dangerous to our fragile economy.
These questions should be asked by a coalition of countries strong enough to establish an independent international free trade movement free of CCP interference.
Unfortunately it’s not an existing world organization and it’s unlikely there could be a coalition of partners strong enough to wield sufficient leverage to achieve a positive outcome. 🤔
You've hit a key point for me and that is NZ needs to stand with our allies in making these points. We don't have lead the questions/concerns, but we should be aligned. Sadly, often NZ lags behind, is silent, or even contradicts allies. This in turn has led to NZ been seen as a bit too weak or too close to China, reducing trust.
Thanks Simon and this letter is really On Point.
NZSIS last year revealed China’s intelligence keep targeting and interfering the ethnic Chinese communities living in NZ. Winston should raise this in front of Wang Yi.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/08/new-zealand-spies-call-out-foreign-interference-including-by-china-in-first-of-its-kind-report.html
They certainly did plus we know this interference - and often intimidation - of our local Chinese community has been going on for some time.
It's Xinjiang, not Xingjian.
Absolutely it is; not sure how that got through. Cheers.
We were an easy target for the CCP with their Belt & Road Initiative and only had to dangle an FTA to buy us off.
Your points are all very good ones and will no doubt be ignored by Winston. Simply because the ramifications of asking questions such as you suggest are far to dangerous to our fragile economy.
These questions should be asked by a coalition of countries strong enough to establish an independent international free trade movement free of CCP interference.
Unfortunately it’s not an existing world organization and it’s unlikely there could be a coalition of partners strong enough to wield sufficient leverage to achieve a positive outcome. 🤔
You've hit a key point for me and that is NZ needs to stand with our allies in making these points. We don't have lead the questions/concerns, but we should be aligned. Sadly, often NZ lags behind, is silent, or even contradicts allies. This in turn has led to NZ been seen as a bit too weak or too close to China, reducing trust.