China Protests New Zealand Foreign Minister's Comments to Chinese Born Lawmaker
7 sources across 6 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- Hong Kong Free Press
- South China Morning Post
- The Jakarta Post
- Dawn
- Al Jazeera
- Reuters
- Bloomberg
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
China has lodged a formal protest against New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters after he told a lawmaker born in China to go back to your own country. The exchange occurred during a Wednesday debate regarding the response to the Covid pandemic. When Green Party member Lawrence Xu Nan asked if Peters was vaccinated, Peters responded that the lawmaker had come here five minutes ago and called him a loudmouth.
The comments prompted an intervention from Wang Xiaolong, the Chinese ambassador to New Zealand. In a post on X, Wang stated that such statements often reveal more about the person making them than anyone else. The Chinese embassy in Wellington urged New Zealand to protect the rights of the local Chinese community and maintain bilateral ties; meanwhile, Beijing's foreign ministry requested that China not be used as an issue in domestic politics.
Peters defended his remarks by citing the values of free speech and democracy. He referred to those who labeled the comments as dangerous as pearl clutchers and communist shills.
Outlets with a center left lean include details about previous controversial comments made by Peters and his deputy Shane Jones regarding Indian trade and Mexican immigrants. Outlets with a center right lean describe the incident as a domestic exchange that became a diplomatic issue. Center outlets prioritize reporting on the protest and the specific words used.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Highlights previous instances of controversial language to provide context for the current event.
- Centre
- Focuses on the factual occurrence of the protest and the specific quote.
- Centre-right
- Emphasizes the transition from a domestic political argument to an international diplomatic matter.
Sources
- Centre-left Al Jazeera: ‘Go back to your own country’: NZ foreign minister faces backlash
- Centre Bloomberg: China Protests NZ Foreign Minister’s Comments on China-Born MP
- Centre-left Dawn: New Zealand FM in row with Beijing's envoy after telling Chinese-born lawmaker to 'go back to your own country'
- Centre-left Hong Kong Free Press: New Zealand foreign minister in racism row with Chinese ambassador
- Centre Reuters: China protests over New Zealand foreign minister's jibe at Chinese-born lawmaker - Reuters
- Centre-right South China Morning Post: China lodges protest after NZ foreign minister’s ‘go back’ slur in parliament
- Centre-left The Jakarta Post: New Zealand foreign minister in racism row with Chinese ambassador
75% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.