I want to start by stating I have nothing but the deepest respect for Professor Anne-Marie Brady. I believe her research into Chinese Government influence into our politics and economy raise one of the most important foreign affairs issues confronting us and that she is a necessary voice in that debate.
Her comments today however at the Parliamentary Committee whereby she called for SIS investigation into the tragic death of two Chinese activists travelling to Wellington are surely the grief of someone who has lost dear comrades…
Canterbury University Professor Anne-Marie Brady, a Chinese politics expert, told a parliamentary committee on Thursday two of her friends, Yuezhong Wang and Weiguo Xi, died in a car crash on a highway near Tokoroa on Tuesday.
Brady said another friend of hers, pro-democracy activist Freeman Yu, was also involved in the crash and survived but is in a critical condition. She told MPs she suspects foul play and wants the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) to investigate.
…the accusation that the Chinese Government in any way shape or form had a hand in sabotaging the vehicle and killing these two is so extreme it is simply unjust to make the claim without supporting evidence.
Professor Anne-Marie Brady’s grief must be intense and the shock may have led her to the conclusion she has reached.
I offer this evaluation of Brady’s comments because if it were true that the Chinese Government had some hand in the killing of NZ residents to prevent them from petitioning the Government to protest against the Communist regime, the backlash would see Chinese Government intervention in NZ challenged on every front.
It is alarming that Chinese NZers feel threatened by the Communist regime and is as intolerable to the rest of us as it is for Muslims to feel fear or any minority for that matter.
The power of our diversity is that we all share the fruits of a liberal progressive democracy. Every NZer has the right to feel safe and live without intimidation, no one should fear an external Government or domestic hate group.
We are poorly serving our values if we allow others to live under any shadow of intimidation.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice going into this pandemic and 2020 election – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media.
Could they? You bet.
the backlash would see Chinese Government intervention in NZ challenged on every front.
So many times over many years, I have heard that sort of statement: “If this or that happened…” then all hell would break loose. And when those things did happen, and were accepted as having happened, “all hell” not only did not break loose, but the entire matter was quietly buried.
——–
(“Check the brakes. Check the steering. Check the vehicle as carefully as if it were insured for several million dollars.” ONLY after such thorough checking can it be deemed ‘unlikely’ and so left to rest.)
Bomber
You got this absolutely right.
Chinese travel south
Car travel north crosses the center line!
Sabotage?
Yeah right m8
Bit like police who get too deep in the forest they believe their own bullshit.
And there is a profile politician who appears to have a similar disease.
Mz Brady needs to step back. Too close to the action one can lose objectivity.
Not much I agree with you on but this is definitely one time. As sad as it may be the Police have already indicated that the North bound vehicle crossed the centre line, clipped one car and then hit the second car head on.
As much as I mistrust the Chinese government I simply cannot believe that they could stage such a collision at a pre-determined time and place.
If they were to be assassinated by “accident” why wait until that particular time and place. Much easier to organise something closer to Auckland.
at a pre-determined time and place.
Why would the time and place be pre-determined? All they had to do was to override the system. Onboard computers and sensors.
But they were driving fine. They were glanced by an opposite car that apparently lost control and crossed the centre line. If that opposite car’s onboard computers and sensors were tempered with, then the system overriding action will require precise timing and location to cause the accident.
Nope. Just continue tracking them on GPS.
It was not the other car’s computer/ electronics that were tampered with.
My thoughts also, Ms Brady has history of an anti China pro USA view no matter the situation so her credibility is close to zero in my opinion.
I have met Ms Brady and the very idea that she is anti China pro USA is bullshit. Like the rest of us she wants Aotearoa to have an independent foreign policy!
Thank you Michal. That is my understanding also.
I hope you are right, but it doesn’t help when her works were funded by foreign sources with a different agenda from Aotearoa: https://thestandard.org.nz/the-brady-papers/
foreign sources with a different agenda from Aotearoa
Aotearoa the land does not have an “agenda”. Aotearoa is being continually carved up and sold off, thousands and thousands of hectares p/a, including over this last year.
Aotearoa is having her underground aquifers drained, millions of litres, even while the voices of the people are crying out for that to stop.
Aotearoa is being clothed in foreign monoculture forests, mostly owned by foreign companies, many owned by China.
Many of the people of Aotearoa are already impoverished. Many are homeless. Yet many homes sit empty while their new owners reside in China.
Many of the people of Aotearoa are no longer able to buy food, they must beg at food banks. Yet Aotearoa is a food producing nation, and large amounts of that food is sent to China.
It take two to tango. One must be willing to sell, before others are able to buy. Foreigners would not be able to buy our lands, water resources, homes, and food produce if our government and corporates do not allow them in the first place.
But did you die?
I am horrified that successive NZ governments have allowed this to happen and are continuing to do so.
You have it Fumikun.
The tip of the iceberg.
How can Ms Brady be anti-chinese when her partner is Chinese and so are her children … being anti PRC as a political party is quite different…
It’s like saying being against Trump is like being against America.
Being against the PRC is being against China.
Neither are necessarily true.
Agreed
Could they or did they? Very unlikely
It is quite possible!
Who knows what has occurred.
Who would think the Saudi’s would order the torture and murder Jamal Khashoggi, however this crime was caught as he was wearing a watch that recorded his own death leaving no doubt he was murdered within the embassy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khashoggi –
Who would think that Israel agents would be stealing disabled people’s identities in NZ 2004 Israel–New Zealand passport scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Israel–New_Zealand_passport_scandal as well as the Israeli student found with at least 5 passports in the CHCH earthquake. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017071/Christchurch-earthquake-unmasked-team-Israeli-spies-New-Zealand.html
Who would think that France would blow up the Rainbow Warrior? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior
We also know that NZ border control and security is shit. Nothing to do with ethnicity, this OZ conman managed to sail into NZ without a care in the world, to defraud multiple people here and NZ border control had no idea.
A helicopter pilot and conman was able to enter New Zealand with his wife on a yacht without authorities knowing, before committing more than $400,000 worth of fraud.https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/122184151/conman-paul-bennett-pleads-guilty-to-580000-worth-of-fraud-charges
Sroubek came back into NZ twice without leaving once…. Lets face it, it is just as likely this was not his double, he left on a fake passport and then forgot about it and returned on the wrong one!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/384041/sroubek-double-antolik-likely-to-have-visited-new-zealand
When immigration goes onto building sites or horticulture sites, illegal people literally go running off the sites…
Who knows how many illegal and dodgy dealings are going on in NZ, while our government and security agencies and border control services are asleep at the wheel. (or in the case of NZ public service, sitting on their arses, doing a restructure, in a talkfests or meeting or creating a marketing rebrand).
+100 saveNZ….well said
They could and they would. I think we need to stop being so naive. Remember the French bombing the Rainbow Warrior. Based on the RW incident, the Russians interfering with other countries politics and trying to steal Covid research, we need to keep an open mind. We also need to look at how China is currently acting up, they are pushing there weight around and the timing of there actions. As timing is crucial and the best time to strike your opposition is when they are vulnerable. They are exerting there power at a time when many powerful countries are too busy fighting a pandemic, they are preoccupied. This in my view is very smart and ruthless politics. Lets hope the West opens their eyes before it is too late.
I think we need to stop being so naive.
Yep.
Lets hope the West opens their eyes before it is too late.
Well, let’s hope that we in Aotearoa wake up and open our eyes before it really is too late.
And do remember what China did last time we suggested that we investigate them:
And if the DuckDuckGo search I just did was any indication such threats have become standard for China.
The threats in this case did not seem to come from an official source, but from an industry body that was apparently upset by the prospect of such an investigation. The official word from the then ambassador to NZ was an assurance that no reprisal would be taken if NZ investigates the matter: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/fran-osullivan-on-business/news/article.cfm?objectid=11677542
NZ went ahead with the investigation and the threats did not materialise as feared. The final conclusion of this investigation was published three years later in 2019: https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2019-go3195
Hard to say. It could just have been a case of ‘driving whilst Chinese’
I’m totally disappointed nobody has called me a racist yet!
C’mon guys!
@Andrew, with the border controls and Covid disruption the PRC can’t get their soldiers trolling as effectively as they used to.
(Although a bit of a low blow comment).
Since the Covid 19 infection came out of China we have seen Chinese Government CCP grow more aggressive since then so anything connected allegations of their “involvement is perhaps to be taken as a possible action by them damping down any trouble for them.
They could have done something. I think we need to stop being so naive. Remember the French bombing the Rainbow Warrior. Based on the RW incident, the Russians interfering with other countries politics and trying to steal Covid research, we need to keep an open mind. We also need to look at how China is currently acting up, they are pushing there weight around and the timing of there actions. As timing is crucial and the best time to strike your opposition is when they are vulnerable. They are exerting there power at a time when many powerful countries are too busy fighting a pandemic they are preoccupied. This in my view is very smart and ruthless politics. Lets hope the West opens their eyes before it is too late.
They could and they would. I think we need to stop being so naive. Remember the French bombing the Rainbow Warrior. Based on the RW incident, the Russians interfering with other countries politics and trying to steal Covid research, we need to keep an open mind. We also need to look at how China is currently acting up, they are pushing there weight around and the timing of there actions. As timing is crucial and the best time to strike your opposition is when they are vulnerable. They are exerting there power at a time when many powerful countries are too busy fighting a pandemic they are preoccupied. This in my view is very smart and ruthless politics. Lets hope the West opens their eyes before it is too late.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NF3y1ouJ64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NF3y1ouJ64
Sorry Bomber you are way out of touch on this and quite frankly woefully uninformed. If you think for one moment the PRC has has not interfered in NZ politics or abused the FTA you are inexcusably ignorant of the reality of China’s attitude and ambitions in the global sphere.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/05/08/575479/anne-marie-bradys-full-submission
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/118630157/christchurch-academic-in-global-demand-for-insight-into-chinas-influence
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/382361/anne-marie-brady-break-ins-police-investigation-hits-dead-end
In fact I find your trivialization of Prof Brady and her understandable reaction considering what she has experienced with having her home and office burgled and being tailed and having her vehicle tampered with quite insulting.
Is there anyone on this blog with her skills( a fluent speaker of Mandarin)?
She has also resided in mainland China.
Respect is due in buckets to this woman not the tall poppy derision of the smug small minded been nowhere done nothing Kiwi attitude so prevalent in our country.
Shona excellent points. I totally agree.
Absolutely agree.
Respect is earned, not due. The claims that PRC state actors were behind those burgling, tailing and tampering incidents are so far unproven: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/04/jacinda-ardern-denies-intelligence-pointed-to-china-in-anne-marie-brady-burglaries.html
so far unproven
Yes. You’re right of course. It was almost certainly a possum. They can do a fair bit of damage I know, in cars too. Certainly the govt must think so, as they have recently allocated more than $100 million to rid the country of them. “Don’t worry Prof Brady, the govt has this all under control! To the tune of more than $100 million”.
(New govt dept: StoryBooksAreUs)
Speculation can be very misleading
Yes, yes they could. IMO, they also would.
Did they actually do so in regards to the death of two agitators for Chinese democracy? I would be inclined to believe so but evidence is needed and that’s going to be hard to come by.
Comments are closed.