We can’t pretend China is benign any more than we can pretend Trump benign and the rise of right wing lone wolf terror threats

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
15
346

Documents show New Zealand unease over Chinese warships in South Pacific

China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, according to military documents obtained by AFP.

Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid.

But these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power.

Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February this year, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters.

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“We have never seen vessels with this capability so close to our shores – ships equipped for air, land and sea warfare,” New Zealand Defence Force officials wrote in briefings released under freedom of information laws.

We can’t pretend China is benign, they use Grey Zone tactics that manipulate and threaten their diaspora, pump meth into the Pacific and attempt to infiltrate our education system …

‘Deceptive, coercive, corruptive’: The world power the SIS says carries out the most foreign interference in NZ

The report says while a number of states carry out foreign interference in New Zealand, “the most active country” is the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

For the first time, the SIS names the PRC’s united front programme over activities which are “regularly deceptive, coercive and corruptive”.

United front activities in New Zealand were the focus of the Stuff Circuit documentary The Long Game.

Co-optees or proxies carry out activities in support of the PRC, including online and physical surveillance activity such as monitoring social media, photographing individuals at events or protests, and instructing other community members to collect information.

…any more than we can pretend Trump benign…

US President Donald Trump not budging on trade tariff – PM Christopher Luxon

The Prime Minister says there’s no suggestion the US President will budge on a 15 percent trade tariff for New Zealand exports.

Trade Minister Todd McClay met with his counterpart in Washington this week to convey the government’s concerns about the rate.

Both he and Finance Minister Nicola Willis protested New Zealand had been hit with a “very blunt formula” when the US revised its list of tariffs last month.

 …and the rise of right wing lone wolf terror threats are flashing red…

Terror threat level: NZ Security Intelligence Service spy agency warns Kiwis need to step up to combat terror

Similar to last year’s report, it described the most plausible extremist attack to come from a “lone actor who has radicalised online and prepares for violence without any intelligence forewarning”, using weapons such as knives or vehicles.

“At the extreme edges, well outside of what would be considered normal social and political discourse, there is a notable degree of misplaced agitation and blame for perceived societal ills.

“Much of this rhetoric exists solely online, and its spread is aided by algorithms that push controversial content because it generates the most engagement.”

…as social media hate algorithms take over the lives of the disaffected, chronically lonely and alienated, the chance of Right Wing lone wolf extremists armed with weapons only intensifies…

Alongside the age for radicalisation trending younger, the NZSIS noted other common factors such as unstable socio-economic status, poor mental health, developmental trauma and “low emotional maturity”.

…’Low Emotional Maturity’, sounds like most of NZ.
The dark treacle of treason that set in the hearts of many of the Dumb Lives Matter Protestors on Parliament’s Lawns has not dissipated at all.
This could be some attack on Māori or an Incel based attack on women or even an Islamist extremist attack.

The extremism that social media is triggering is ripe for exploitation by foreign powers who want chaos inside NZ.

I don’t believe we are ready for this Jelly.

 

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15 COMMENTS

  1. It’s very funny that the only evidence that can be cited that China is not benign is… far less aggressive ‘freedom of navigation’ operations than the RNZN has engaged in within Chinese territorial waters. As for Andrew Hastie, he’s well known to be blackmailed by foreign powers () to spew this deranged nonsense.

  2. This narrative has similar sentiments accusing China of genocide of the Uyghurs of Xinjiang China. It’s an American Psyop targeting China for propaganda remember the US is threatening China with war trying to stop multipolarity and its panicking which is why NZers don’t need warmongering we need to opt out of US “strategic Sequencing” and Division of Labour tactics concerning its threats towards China.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE5lNUTm0cc

  3. While it is fair to say that the Chinese are not perfect the major powers to avoid in the end times is the USA church state combination that is forming now.

  4. I was in a shopping mall the other day and there were six different EV marques on display. Five were made by Chinese car companies and the sixth an MG made in china.

    That’s some soft consumer power.

    • MG was brought by one of the older Chinese car companies around 2008. It’s interesting to compare the state of MG and Volvo to what has been done to Jaguar in the last couple of years under Tata ownership.

  5. The report says while a number of states carry out foreign interference in New Zealand, “the most active country” is the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

    Too bad the SIS didn’t name the other “number of States” that carry out foreign interference in New Zealand. Because the US would be up there, possibly even ahead of China.

    FBI opens office in New Zealand
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/31/fbi-opens-new-zealand-office#:~:text=The%20director%20of%20the%20FBI,of%20the%20Five%20Eyes%20nations.

    …..The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, has opened the bureau’s first ever office in New Zealand, in what he said was an attempt to help counter China’s activities in the Indo-Pacific, crack down on issues including cybercrime, and strengthen protection of the Five Eyes nations.
    Patel, who opened the office at the US embassy in Wellington on Thursday, called the event an “historic moment”

    US President Donald Trump uses FBI for “revenge”
    https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/24/trump-ran-on-a-promise-of-revenge-hes-now-making-good-on-it/

    …..Donald Trump ran on a promise to use the powers of the government for revenge against those he believed wronged him. He now appears to be fulfilling that campaign promise while threatening to expand his powers well beyond Washington.
    On Friday, the FBI searched the home of John Bolton, Trump’s first-term national security adviser-turned-critic, who last week in an interview called the administration “the retribution presidency.”…..

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