New Zealand has raised concerns with China over human rights abuses and growing tensions with Taiwan, Wellington’s foreign minister said in an interview yesterday.
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta held talks with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛) in which they discussed “challenging issues,” she said, including human rights in Xinjiang, freedoms in Hong Kong and China’s influence in the Pacific.
“There’s a lot that we can agree on and we also discussed some of the challenging issues, working through where we don’t agree on,” she said at the New Zealand embassy in Beijing. “Human rights was an area where we did discuss some of those issues where we don’t agree on.”
Photo: AFP
Mahuta this week made the first visit to China by a New Zealand foreign minister since 2018.
She earlier said in a statement that she had told her counterpart that the New Zealand government had “deep concerns regarding the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.”
Another major flashpoint she raised was Taiwan, she said.
In the interview, Mahuta said she had also “used the opportunity to highlight New Zealand’s position on Russia’s illegal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.”
Beijing has notably refrained from using such strong language to refer to the Russian invasion, instead accusing NATO of “fanning the flames.”
Mahuta added that New Zealand “urged China to use its influence with Russia to see the withdrawal of troops and ceasing of war.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to Moscow this week further exacerbated concerns that Beijing plans to provide material support to Russia.
Despite close economic ties between China and New Zealand, there were still certain topics related to human rights on which the sides disagree, Mahuta said.
New Zealand has also called out China, its largest trading partner, over reports of the repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang.
“In the discussion I urged China to respond to the recommendations of the Office of the [UN] Human Rights Commissioner,” she said.
Last year, the commissioner’s office detailed a string of rights violations against Uighurs and other minorities in the far northwestern region, highlighting “credible” allegations of widespread torture, arbitrary detention, and violations of religious and reproductive rights.
Beijing vehemently rejects the charges and insists it is running vocational training centers in the region to counter extremism.
New Zealand has also joined the US in accusing China of attempting to increase its military presence in the Pacific.
In Mahuta’s talks with Qin, she also raised concerns “over developments in the South China Sea,” the statement said.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS