Protecting Chinese-New Zealanders from Communist Party harassment is a national security issue and better than AUKUS

This is Paula Penfold at her best…

‘We don’t feel safe here in New Zealand’: Call for urgent inquiry into foreign interference

• A pro-democracy group of Chinese New Zealanders is calling for an urgent open inquiry into China’s foreign interference activities in New Zealand and the Pacific.
• The New Zealand Values Alliance says the New Zealand Chinese community do not have the same freedom of speech and association as other Kiwis.
• It says New Zealand needs to face up to the domestic and external security risk, to better protect its own people as well as its national security.

…it makes no sense to me.

If we are serious about countering Chinese influence in our country, then why aren’t we protecting our Chinese-New Zealand population far more from harassment by the Chinese Communist Party?

The manner in which the CCP threatens and bullies their diaspora in our country has been well documented by Professor Anne-Marie Brady, if NZ wants to counter negative Chinese influence and wants to strengthen our national security against the CCP, reaching out to our NZ-Chinese community in a meaningful way would do far more to protect us than AUKUS ever will!

The fact we have so many Mandarin only speakers in NZ who are all subject to CCP propaganda through the Mandarin newspapers has always been deeply problematic.

We need culturally appropriate out reach with culturally appropriate Police responses that allow a process to investigate and prosecute foreign harassment by State actors.

Stepping up and protecting our NZ-Chinese community is an obligation as the host country and culture. We would not allow any other Government to persecute their former citizens in our country, we shouldn’t allow the CCP to do it either.

This is NOT China. This is New Zealand.

We need an inquiry into this type of harassment to make it clear we will not tolerate it.

Manaakitanga and Manaaki demands we do no less.

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