China insisted on Thursday it posed no threat to New Zealand’s national security, after the country’s spy service identified Beijing-backed groups as a “major intelligence concern”.
New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service issued unusually blunt criticism of China in its annual threat report released this week, saying ongoing foreign interference efforts are “complex and confusing.”
China’s embassy in New Zealand hit back on Thursday, calling such claims “totally baseless” and “a figment of imagination or a complete fabrication.”
“There is no competition between the two countries, and China poses no threat to New Zealand,” an embassy spokesperson said in a statement.
Beijing has been accused of infiltrating local groups and replacing authentic community views with those approved by the ruling party.
In one instance, a Chinese-language community news outlet was accused of repeating government narratives.
A Chinese embassy spokesperson responded, “The report’s clear attempts to defame Chinese immigrants and students are nothing more than an attempt to sow discord, create fear and promote division.”
“This is extremely irresponsible, reckless and extremely unfair to the Chinese community.”
China’s embassy said outside forces – possibly a veiled reference to the United States – were intervening to undermine ties between the trading partners.
New Zealand’s centre-right government has brought the country’s foreign policy closer to traditional Western allies such as the United States.
This has increased the desire to speak out against China.
In March, Wellington said a Chinese state-sponsored group was behind the 2021 malicious cyberattack that infiltrated sensitive government computer systems.
China remains New Zealand’s largest trading partner – with exports of dairy, meat and timber products worth more than NZ$21.39 billion (US$13.2 billion), according to the latest official data.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has warned that while China is “undoubtedly an influential country”, differing values mean “there are issues on which we cannot and will not agree.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
