China Calls New Zealand a ‘Pawn’ After Espionage Accusation

Save

Translate

1:53

Takeaways by Bloomberg AI

    China accused New Zealand of acting as a “pawn for anti-China forces” after its intelligence agency said Beijing was conducting espionage against the country on a significant scale.

    The Chinese embassy in Wellington said Friday that a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service report this week “fabricates and hypes” the “China interference” and “China threat” narratives.

    “We firmly oppose this and will never accept it,” the statement said. “Serving as a pawn for anti-China forces will ultimately backfire. Manufacturing distractions in foreign relations will not solve New Zealand’s own problems — it will only prove counterproductive.”

    The clash adds to growing strains between Wellington and Beijing, which have traded diplomatic barbs in recent months over China’s military activity in the Pacific, New Zealand lawmakers’ ties with Taiwan and comments by Foreign Minister Winston Peters.

    The tensions over this week’s report also highlight New Zealand’s delicate balancing act between its role with the so-called Five Eyes security partners — including Australia, the US, the UK and Canada — and China, its largest trading partner.

    Read more on New Zealand-China relations:

    The NZSIS report, issued Thursday, singled out China, saying that while there are several states that conduct espionage against New Zealand, China is the only country doing it at scale.

    It also gave a case study, saying Purple Mountain Observatory, an organization based in China with close links to its government, was found in the past year attempting to install ground-based space infrastructure in New Zealand. The South Pacific nation’s strategic location makes it an ideal place to install the equipment, which is designed to track satellites and space debris and is also attractive for foreign states seeking to advance military capabilities and intelligence operations, the report said.

    “They worked with a local company that was likely unaware of the equipment’s capability to collect intelligence of military value and would have no idea who was receiving the data,” the NZSIS said.

    Follow all new stories by Ainsley Thomson
    Get Alerts
    Save

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Image
      Act now to stop a flood of climate refugees Extreme heat and rising sea levels could displace millions, and they’ll quickly become our problem Roger Boyes @rogerboyes The Earth is heating up and wildlife is on the move to higher, cooler ground. Deer, rabbits and beavers are moving into the Arctic. Butterflies once common in Mexico are now more likely to be spotted in Canada. And human beings are shifting, too. Climate migration en masse is the big bogeyman that will keep border security at the top of the agenda for decades, and not just for hard-right alarmists. It’s already happening, of course. A breakdown of the nationality of small boat refugees this year shows Afghans, Eritreans, Iranians, Syrians and Sudanese topping the list. All have their political fears, all want to better their lives but most also form the advance guard of the great climate exodus. The Afghans are fleeing the Taliban of course but also the sizzling weather that is causing severe drought and flash flood...
    Read more
    Image
      Real lessons of Trump’s impetuous action Venezuela may yet fall into chaos but president’s readiness to act contrasts with Britain’s lawyerly approach to governing Daniel Finkelstein @DANNYTHEFINK Within hours of snatching Maduro Donald Trump faced reporters Next image  › Ten minutes after the capture of Nicolás Maduro was announced on social media, the White House correspondent of the New York Times wanted words from the administration for his paper’s rolling news coverage. Fortunately, he knew just who to call. He dialled the president of the United States. Donald Trump answered after only three rings and gave him an interview on the spot. It was 4.30 in the morning. A few hours later the president, looking slightly worse for wear, held a press conference and told a startled collection of correspondents gathered at his Palm Beach social club that he now intended to “run Venezuela”. There were no answers on how he intended to do this or even how he intended to be in a posit...
    Read more
    Image
      Opinion | Waging War Lawfully Is Crucial to Defending Civilization Dec. 8, 2025 12:13 pm  ET Alec Guinness in "The Bridge on the River Kwai" during its production in Sri Lanka, 1957.   /Associated Press In David Lean’s classic 1957  movie , “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” Alec Guinness plays the punctiliously correct English Col. Nicholson leading his fellow prisoners of war in dutiful observance of a wartime code of honor. His determination that they do as ordered by their Japanese captors and build a bridge that completes a critical section of the Rangoon-to-Singapore railroad appalls his own men but is matched by his insistence that the Japanese also observe the laws of war on prisoner treatment. The camp commandant, Col. Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), is as incredulous as he is furious and erupts when Nicholson lectures him about playing by the rules. “Do not speak to me of rules!” Saito explodes. “This is war! This is not a game of cricket!” Advertisement Lean’s mov...
    Read more