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Chinese leader snubs Maoris to avoid lone protester

China's National People's Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo, left, poses with Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and Rings character Gollum at Weta Studios in Wellington yesterday as part of Wu's three-day tour of New Zealand. PHOTO: AP

China's No.2 leader was shielded from a protest demanding Tibet's freedom yesterday when officials whisked him past a flag-waving activist to enter New Zealand's parliament by a side door.

The motorcade of National People's Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo (吳邦國) swung into the parliamentary grounds ahead of schedule, ignoring an official Maori welcome and driving past a red carpet and the lone Free Tibet protester.

A spokesman for New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said plans for the official welcome were altered because of the protest.

"Officials were aware that the presence of a Tibetan flag outside this morning would cause gross offense to the Chinese visitors," spokesman Mike Munro said, adding that officials decided to "bring him straight into the building."

Chinese officials had demanded that police remove the protester with the Free Tibet flag from the parliament's front steps and shield him from Wu's path.

The protesters, Green Party co-leader Rod Donald, said that police declined and that he had permission from the parliamentary speaker to be near where Wu was to alight from his vehicle, as a half-dozen other protesters waved Free Tibet flags further away on the lawn.

"This is the New Zealand parliament, not Tiananmen Square," Donald said. "And this is New Zealand, a democracy -- not China, a dictatorship."

Friends of Tibet spokeswoman Ellen Blake said the protest was a success.

"He ducked in the side door. They saw the Tibetan flag and they hate seeing the Tibetan flag because ... they know they have oppressed the people of Tibet," she said.

At a state luncheon later in the day, Wu said relations between China and New Zealand had "contributed to peace and development in the Asia-Pacific region."
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