Former National Party Prime Minister Jenny Shipley is refusing to clarify whether an opinion piece with her name on it, which she says she didn’t write, represents her views.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says: “They are her words… she needs to explain those words."
The People’s Daily on Monday published an opinion piece supposedly written by Shipley, lauding the Belt and Road Initiative as “one of the greatest ideas we’ve ever heard globally” and saying, “we should listen to China”.
Yet the NZ Herald’s Audrey Young on Tuesday night reported that Shipley told her she didn’t write the piece.
Young said Shipley was interviewed by the state-run newspaper in December for a feature article (which had already been published), so was surprised to learn a new piece had been posted under her name.
Interest.co.nz emailed Shipley on Wednesday morning and left her a voicemail at around lunchtime to get some clarification around the situation, but heard nothing back.
When interest.co.nz finally got through to Shipley mid-afternoon, she hung up the phone after saying, “Hello, I’ve got nothing to add for you. Thanks very much for calling.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters during the afternoon told media: “The quotes in the op-ed are all her quotes. She’s not denying that.”
Peters said the timing of the publication was "a bit unwise".
He said Shipley, who is the chair of the Oravida NZ board, had complained to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) about the food exporter having problems at the Chinese border.
NZTE CEO Peter Chrisp last Thursday told a Select Committee he was unable to identify individual companies he had spoken to about having issues at the border.
When interest.co.nz again called Shipley to get her side of the story, she for the second time abruptly hung up the phone.
Shipley is also the chair of the Chinese government-controlled China Construction Bank NZ.
The questions interest.co.nz wanted to put to Shipley were:
- Did Oravida have problems at the Chinese border?
- Is there any link between this and the publication of the opinion piece?
- Did Shipley actually write the piece?
- If the comments she made during an interview in December were repackaged by People’s Daily and published in the form of an opinion piece, does she still stand by the comments? Do they represent her views?
- Has she asked People’s Daily to take the piece down?
The piece was still online as at 4pm Wednesday.
The timing of the piece appearing on the People’s Daily is noteable, as the role of Huawei in New Zealand’s telecommunications network is seeing the country’s relationship with China publicly scrutinised.
Shipley reportedly told Young: "It is important for the Foreign Minister and Prime Minister and others to understand that I would never think of getting into a public situation like this at such an important time for New Zealand's relationship.”
74 Comments
"Abuses of human rights are a concern wherever they occur," says National's Foreign Affairs spokesperson Todd McClay, "however, the existence and purpose of vocational training centres is a domestic matter for the Chinese Government."
Re-education / concentration camps vs. Vocational training centres.
Source: The disappearing people: Uighur Kiwis lose contact with family members in China
Please respect the newspeak. It is not totalitarian. It is all-loving.
Where is the loyalty to NZ by its citizens and leaders and where is the commitment to NZ values?
Our Universities are more concerned with satisfying international students aims than NZers.
Our ex-politicians (& some current ones) are working for China’s interests mainly rather than for NZs interests.
Our global corporations have no loyalty to NZ.
Our public infrastructure is being progressively sold to offshore interests.
Our houses and land are being sold to foreign-related parties
Some of our members of parliament have allegiances to foreign states.
The NZ media are now pushing trade above sovereignty.
Your pretty Naive MortgageBelt its called MONEY and with enough of it you can buy anyone or anything. I don't think Kiwis have any idea how much money some of the Chinese have. Its simply a numbers game, when you have a billion plus people you have more multimillionaires and billionaires and when the country has a corrupt political system it compounds the problem.
True, and when assets, infrastructure, political positions, and supply chains etc are all on sale by a small country (& the buying country is selling only consumer goods - not selling any of its property, companies, supply chain and definitely not its political positions!) and then you have to ask: how much is NZs sovereignty worth?
China has lobbist in all places to further their interest.
This is what is harmfull and one has to be aware of all the riches and posistion thrown at people in high places.
Throw so much money in the name of development and prosperity than no individual and country can dare to speak against China.
Have a look around on your next flight to Shanghai.
FUll of Local body politicians and executives, education marketeers, corporate buyers/sellers, MPs, Real estate agents, etc - all being feted by hosts & putting trade above NZs autonomy and long term sovereignty.
Yes, I have - on many. And I was surprised at the number of local body reps and many NZers may be surprised.
Of course trade is fine and benefits NZ.
I do think there is a lot more going on than purely commercial trade.
I don’t mean to suggest cultural superiority - however NZ is very open, while other countries are not, & that can lead to Social and political problems for our future.
We're richer than red china, cleaner than red china, have more free speech than red china and more business friendly than red china. In a million years under socialism you could not get to our level of civilisation. That's why so many of you are here, that's why so many of you avoid your own countrys baby formula, and pay a premium for japanese products. Because you know, deep down inside - you know your society is inferior.
Ahead of others as a result of temporary technology advancement for merely 200 to 300 years in the past 5000 years of documented human history, and you claim that you are superior to others forever?
I would think you always believe what God says that all men are created equal.
Do you have two faces? Have you always been hypocritical? Have you always had two sets of standards -- one for you the superior and one for others the inferior.
This comment just marks how low you are.
Feel sorry for you, man.
Xingmowang - please please understand this very important thing; the Communist Party of China is not the same thing as China. Repeat, the CCP is not the same thing as China. China had a long cultural tradition and heritage but the CCP destroyed it during the Cultural Revolution. The West is best not just because of technological advancements and wealth but the rule of law and individual freedoms. The day the CCP falls will be a great day for the world but above all for the people of China.
I can give a clear answer that without CCP, there would be no new China. 99% of Chinese nowadays agree on this.
Why?
Because, after living in both China and NZ for many years, I fail to find even one political party in the whole world that would achieve what CCP have achieved in the past 70 years.
There were mistakes and huge ones made in the past 70 years. But, big lessons are learnt from them. Ppl's standard living improved dramatically. Life expectancy, literate rate, mortality rate, poverty rate, technology advancement all improved unprecedentedly.
Most importantly, CCP unites all Chinese ppl.
Political system is a reflection and a result of level of production.
Change of a level of production will change a political system.
Democratic system is a result of advancement in production happens during 1st and 2st industrial revolution. The 1st and 2nd industrial revolution were NOT caused by a democratic system.
I can foresee the current political system in NZ and even wider Anglo world is becoming unsustainable election by election. the system needs serious tweaking to suit the level of production today.
I think what most of ppl here fail to understand what is the cause and what is the result.
A democratic system or any political systems are results.
Technology revolution/advancement, change in the level of production is the cause!
This isn't east vs west. This is anti-communism. Capitalism will always win. Democracy will always win. Mainland China would be richer than North America if it were as capitalist as Hong Kong. Instead you are middle income, and you will be that way as long as you have a socialist government. You should be absolutely ashamed that Mainland China is not a developed country while Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan are.
Nope. Currently both houses are losing - both have attempted exponential growth on a finite planet - which is impossible. Capitalism outlasted Russian totalitarianism, but Russia is placed to outlast the West in resource terms - it's a differentiation that seems to be beyond the comprehension of some. China is simply too late in the game - but you have to understand the game to understand that. And India won't even make it to the start line.
Perhaps start by asking youself what 'richer' means.
The cultures are different though. NZ culture is of a different quality when viewing it from an individual's perspective. I think most Chinese ex-pats would agree with that. There is the proviso, though, that NZ culture is perceived as being good now but not necessarily sustainable. The generous welfare system is seen by many immigrants, once they get established, as something that inhibits progress and is economically perilous. One Chinese person told me that NZ is more "socialist" than China but was unlikely to stay that way with mass immigration..
One comment I heard from an ex-pat was, "We love China but China doesn't love us". That's why they chose to stay in NZ. NZ is probably one of the most free places on Earth for individual expression, Far more free than Western European nations regardless of whether that is a good thing or not. Individually a good thing but collectively possibly flawed.
(Edit: I do find I have to be guarded when expressing opinions these days though.)
If what is written here is but half correct, then the points and opinion expressed by WP are both pertinent and warranted. Amongst all the unfortunate hyperbole and histrionics over the years, from time to time, WP nevertheless, can certainly hone in and get to the core one heck of a lot more effectively and diligently than most of his contempories. Just as well he is still there, methinks.
Vietnamese media have picked up on this.
https://vnexpress.net/the-gioi/cuu-thu-tuong-new-zealand-ca-ngoi-vanh-d…
Well, that's very interesting Jenee! When CNN asked her she was willing to reply. CNN reported: "Asked whether the comments attributed to her were correct, Shipley confirmed they were." See: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/18/asia/new-zealand-china-intl/index.ht…
I wonder why that could be... http://www.chinesenzherald.co.nz/
It is often touted that the Chinese have an average IQ higher than ours however this isn't the whole story as most people will be aware. The Chinese are at a different historical point of civilizational maturity to us. This is quite evident when you observe their military parades and their reaction to international incidents. They have only just emerged from being a largely agrarian society.
They are extremely united in their thinking. Discard any notions of bringing "freedom" to them thinking that they will appreciate this at this point in time. Do not underestimate the organisational power of the modern socialist state or the collective mind-state.
They are convinced that the West is on its last legs and one can't help but think they may be right. They don't need much propaganda to convince themselves of this. The West may be a great place to live now but the future looks unstable. They no longer admire the West and see it as foolish and weak and utterly hypocritical. The BRI is planning for a world where Western influence and power has seriously declined.
..Mortgage Belt...I quote you...
Have a look around on your next flight to Shanghai.
FUll of Local body politicians and executives, education marketeers, corporate buyers/sellers, MPs, Real estate agents, etc - all being feted by hosts & putting trade above NZs autonomy and long term sovereignty.
You are sooooo right!
Ok, ‘full’ might have been a slight exaggeration- but there are NZ reps from every institution in NZ (including all the public institutions) who are travelling to China every week - not just selling/buying goods & services but actually offering up intellectual capital, infrastructure assets, public assets, political influence etc etc.
Taiwan has the same problem as NZ - only on a larger more threatening scale - the soft power of China. If they can’t take Taiwan over militarily then by insidious political/asset power is the alternative..
I am putting far, far more stock in what this woman has to say than the likes of Shipley, Brash, Collins and all the other forelock tuggers https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/taiwan-president-tsai-ing-wen-issu…
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