Is NZ “Sucking Up” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? ^Featured

LONDON: In Part I last week, I translated an intriguing media feed on international relations into Tongan. Conservative British MP Bob Seeley lambasted (May 3, 2021) New Zealand PM Jacinda Arden government’s as “sucking up” to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) government.

The feud brewed over NZ Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s sniping at their Five Eyes partners: UK, USA, Canada, and Australia. In a speech to the NZ-China Council in late April, Hon. Mahuta lectured their bigger Five Eyes partners on their criticism of NZ’s-China relations.

CCP’s human rights abuses of China’s non-communist religions, and their strong-arming tactics in Hong Kong, are considered abusive by Five Eyes countries.

“We are uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the Five Eyes,” she told reporters. “We would much rather prefer to look for multilateral opportunities to express our interests.” A statement supported by PM Arden but invited criticism from democratic Five Eyes partners.

Human Rights, Hong Kong Issues

Apparently, Hon. Mahuta rebuked the Five Eyes’ increasing involvement in other sensitive international issues between New Zealand and the Chinese Communist Party. Five Eyes began in 1946 after the World War II as a spying operation, collecting and sharing intelligence information. In recent years, however, it has grown to include the economy, security, Big Tech legal issues, human rights, and various international relationship issues.  

New Zealand’s had tried to walk the fine line between their democratic partners in the West and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the East. The CCP’s persecution of the religious group Falun Gong and abusing Hong Kong pro-democracy residents are sensitive issues to Western countries.

A whopping $30-billion trade deal was recently signed between New Zealand and the CCP along with a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. British MP Bob Seeley took to the floor of Parliament took issue with New Zealand.      

Min. Mahuta Forgets Her Maori History

While human rights abuses of China’s minority and religious groups are widely documented, the Arden Government seems to give lip service on calling the CCP to their lies and denials calling the abuses only as “educational” trainings. Imprisonment, tortures, rapes, and organ harvesting are charges being pursued by the Amnesty International and other Human Rights activist groups.

“Matters such as human rights should be approached in a consistent, country agnostic manner,” Hon. Mahuta’s quipped, which seems to infer that human rights issues are defined by each country’s preferences. Rather, human rights are inherently self-evident and God-given gifts to every human being in every nation no matter what religion or ruling political regimes is in power.

Hon. Mahuta has forgotten – or is ignorant of – her own Maori history as a minority group in their own traditional land. They were mistreated by the Pakeha (whites) new majority of European migrants to New Zealand. Human rights of abused Chinese are as dignified as were the Maori minority population.