Giles
Dexter, Political Reporter
*An earlier
version of this story said New Zealand’s senior officials
would visit Taiwan, this has been corrected to say no senior
officials would visit.
China’s embassy in New
Zealand has expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” over a
visit to Taiwan by a cross-parliamentary group of
MPs.
A lengthy statement posted by the embassy accused
the MPs of “wrongdoings” and that they “insisted on
colluding with ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces”
during their trip.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group
on Taiwan was established in 2023 and is jointly led by
National’s Stuart Smith and Labour’s Tangi
Utikere.
Other MPs on the delegation included
National’s Greg Fleming and Hamish Campbell, Labour’s Helen
White, ACT’s Cameron Luxton, and New Zealand First’s Jamie
Arbuckle.
New Zealand does not recognise Taiwan as a
country, instead adhering to the One China
position.
That position was re-affirmed by the prime
minister to Chinese Premier Li Qiang, when the latter visited
New Zealand last year – though Christopher Luxon also
spoke of the importance of de-escalation in the Taiwan
Strait.
While there are no diplomatic relations, New
Zealand and Taiwan do share a trading relationship, which
was worth $2.93 billion in 2024.
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The group of MPs met
with Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te, who said the New
Zealand government had “on multiple occasions reiterated the
importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan
Strait.”
Lai expressed hope that Parliamentary
exchanges and mutual visits would become more frequent,
saying they would explore more opportunities for cooperation
and “further deepen and solidify” the democratic partnership
between New Zealand and Taiwan.
“Authoritarian regimes
continue to converge and expand. Democracies must actively
cooperate and jointly safeguard peace, stability, and the
prosperous development of the Indo-Pacific region,” Lai
said.
According to a readout of the meeting, released
by the Office of the President of Taiwan, Stuart Smith spoke
of the shared values between New Zealand and Taiwan, as
“both are trading nations that rely on easy access for
imports and exports, and that is why freedom of navigation
is so important.
“That is why New Zealand had a naval
vessel sail through the Taiwan Strait, he said, to underline
the importance of freedom of navigation and our mutual
security.”
The position of the New Zealand Government
has been that the sailing was a “routine
activity” and was not directed at or requested by any
particular country.
After forming in 2023, the
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan was set to pay a
visit that year. But it pulled out and said would wait until
after the election.
ACT MPs Brooke van Velden and
James McDowall went anyway.
China’s
response
By meeting with Taiwan’s president, China
said the visit sent a “gravely wrong signal” which was not
in line with China-New Zealand relations.
China views
the Taiwanese government as separatists and said the meeting
was a violation of New Zealand’s commitment to the One China
policy.
“The wrongdoings of relevant New Zealand MPs
severely violate the solemn political commitments made by
New Zealand to China when the two countries established
diplomatic ties,” the spokesperson said.
China lodged
“stern representations” with New Zealand in both Beijing and
Wellington.
According to the Chinese embassy
spokesperson, New Zealand responded that the MPs did not
hold official positions in government, their trip to Taiwan
was “private and individual,” and their “words and deeds do
not represent the New Zealand Government.”
None of the
MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan are
ministers, and the embassy said New Zealand had reiterated
that no senior officials, including Cabinet ministers, would
visit Taiwan.
However, China did not agree with New
Zealand’s response.
“China emphasises that for any
country, including New Zealand, the legislative body and the
executive branch are both part and parcel of the government.
Members of Parliament, as part of the legislative body, are
not ordinary citizens but political figures,” the
spokesperson said.
“It is abundantly clear that such
wrongdoings cannot be dismissed as mere individual
behaviours to evade responsibility.”
The statement
finished with a warning that China reserved the right to
take further measures in response.
The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade said New Zealand had adhered to
the One China policy since 1972 and would continue to do
so.
A spokesperson said the Chinese embassy’s
statement did not accurately represent the structure of New
Zealand’s democratic system, New Zealand government policy,
or the conversations with the Chinese embassy on the issue,
and officials had taken up the inaccuracies with the
embassy.
“New Zealand Members of Parliament have
undertaken independent visits to Taiwan for many years. This
is a well-established practice and is within the parameters
of New Zealand’s One China policy. They do not represent the
New Zealand Government on such visits.”
Cross-strait
sensitivity
New Zealand had recognised Taiwan before
it switched diplomatic allegiances to China in
1972.
Since then, it has kept up engagements with
Taiwan in an unofficial capacity.
Jason Young,
director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research
Centre and associate professor of international relations at
Victoria University, said the discussion and dialogue with
Taiwan had focused on economic and cultural exchanges, and
the visit was a continuation of that long-standing
policy.
“I think it is important that New Zealand
continues to engage with people all over the world,
including with Taiwan,” he said.
Young said
cross-strait relations had become “very tense” since
Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party returned to
power.
While he did not expect further escalation, as
New Zealand’s position had not changed, he said it
highlighted the sensitivity Beijing currently had towards
other parts of the world engaging with Taiwan and a
perception that political visitors to Taiwan inferred
support for independence.
“When cross-strait relations
are not in a good position, then they’re very sensitive when
other countries engage with Taiwan.
“Even though, in
this case, the MPs were visiting Taiwan in their private
capacity, and this has happened for many, many decades, I
think this is really a reflection of the status of
cross-strait relations at the moment.”
Young said the
heightened sensitivity was also partially a product of how
other countries had been engaging with Taiwan.
“In
particular, the United States has increased its engagement
with Taiwan, as at the same time, the relationship between
China and the United States has really deteriorated over the
last sort of half-decade.
“And so, I guess from
Beijing’s perspective, they’ll be seeing it within that
broader international environment.”
Chinese ‘entitled
to their opinion’ – Smith
Stuart Smith told Midday
Report the purpose of the trip, which had been paid for
by Taiwan, was to get to know Taiwan better and find out
about trade opportunities.
He disagreed that the trip
had violated diplomatic relations with China.
“The
Chinese are entitled to their opinion, I don’t believe
that’s the case.”
He said MPs regularly visited
Taiwan, “at least one or two trips a term,” none of whom
were on the executive or were there in an official
government or Parliamentary visit.
“When MPs travel to
Taiwan, they usually get a note from the Chinese embassy or
officials, saying they’re unhappy about the visit. This is
nothing new,” he said.
Smith confirmed he had spoken
to Taiwan’s president about New Zealand sailing a ship
through the Taiwan Strait, though was unsure whether he used
the word “underline,” and said it “demonstrated” the right
to freedom of navigation.
Asked whether that was
different from the government’s position that the sailing
was routine activity, Smith said “it probably was,” but that
it was a matter of semantics.
“You can draw what
conclusions you choose. In New Zealand, we have freedom of
speech and freedom of movement.
“MPs like other New
Zealand citizens have the right to exercise those, and
that’s what we did.”
He said his speech had also
referred to freedom of navigation in the Tasman Sea, and
that New Zealand had defended the right for Chinese ships to
sail through
it.
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