His comments were later underlined on Peter’s X (formerly Twitter) account.
You don’t have to be Einstein to deduce that Peters is talking about former Prime Ministers such as Labour’s Helen Clark and also Chris Hipkins, who believe Aukus is simply a US-led initiative for the United States to contain China. They are openly opposed, and in Clark’s case she has assiduously campaigned this year against New Zealand taking part in Aukus Pillar 2 , a technology-sharing initiative. In Clark’s case, she has joined forces with another “former”, Don Brash, who was previously leader of both the National and Act parties.
Brash currently serves as chairman of the local branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank on an asset basis.
This should not be viewed through a conspiratorial lens.
Other New Zealand luminaries are also directors of the local operations of the major Chinese SOEs operating here. Particularly, former Treasury Secretary Dr Murray Horn and Dr Alan Bollard, like Brash, a former Reserve Bank Governor.
They clearly do not fall into the Manchurian Candidate category. Under the terms of the Chinese banks’ licences they certainly each fit the bill as the required well-qualified New Zealand directors.
So what does Peters have against Clark?
It is true she was a prime proponent of the anti-nuclear legislation in the mid-1980s, which led to New Zealand’s exit from the Anzus alliance and stood against the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Is she a prisoner of historical prejudice? She is clearly frank in her opposition to New Zealand overly aligning with the US on security matters and claims the country’s vaunted “independent foreign policy” is at risk.
But China has also changed since Clark’s prime ministership as both Peters and his “loyal” officials underline.
Security matters have to be considered.
Claims Peters: “While certain others view New Zealand’s independent foreign policy as shorthand for reflexively disagreeing with the United States all of the time and reflexively agreeing with China most of the time, we have a much more important and grave responsibility: to approach every issue on its merits and make a hard-headed assessment of what is in New Zealand’s national interest.”
It’s not hard to deduce Peters is also having a crack at Sir John Key.
The former Prime Minister is connected.
He’s on the US Comcast Advisory board and has opened high-level doors in China.
In 2019, Key was in Beijing for the unveiling of the Comcast-Alibaba partnership at the Universal Beijing Resort.
But he’s also served on the advisory board of Zespri and according to its former chair has been invaluable in advising the New Zealand kiwifruit exporter and shepherding it through some difficult issues through opening doors in Beijing.
Key is also on the board of global cybersecurity giant Palo Alto and sits on the advisory board of BP in London. He’s got behind Jamie Beaton’s Crimson Education and Grant Cochrane’s Oritain.
If Peters is insinuating that such “formers” are working for China and against New Zealand he really should do more than ask questions.
What appears to have sparked Peters’ comments was the reported speech Key gave 8 days ago to a China Chamber of Commerce-hosted forum and charity gala.
It’s commented on within the Chinese community in Auckland that Key is at times present at events where they would have expected Prime Minister Chris Luxon to show. Particularly, as the current Prime Minister is now a fixture at many Indian-hosted events as he moves to strengthen ties ahead of a push for a free trade agreement.
It is also clear that the National Party in previous iterations was too close to China — particularly when it came to fund-raising with the implication that list places were for sale. Labour also went hard on the Chinese fund-raising circuit.
On Thursday, Peters did underline that the Government deeply values “our diverse Chinese community, for the energy it brings, for the positive contribution it makes to New Zealand society, and for deepening the connections between New Zealand and China.”
But it did not escape notice for those present at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce event that the host opened by saying they wished Key was still Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism.
So what did the former Prime Minister say? He came armed with a five-point plan:
First, New Zealand should support China’s entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership. (COTPP). “To put it bluntly and realistically, as the home of 1.4 billion people, for a regional free trade agreement, why would we not want China to be part of that,” he questioned.
Problem is the CPTPP — which now has 12 members including New Zealand — has morphed. Geo-politics and growing security realities are taking precedence over traditional trade norms. Canada, which hosted the recent CPTPP meeting wants the Ukraine to join — the war-torn country is simply not ready.
In fact, the Brits are dead against China joining. Other parties are also quietly blackballing the Asian economic powerhouse, obscuring their opposition by suggesting China is not in a position to meet the CPTPP’s standards whereas China maintains the mere procession of accession will force economic change within the 1.4 billion strong country.
Key’s second point was that New Zealand should celebrate its achievements with China irrespective of the viewpoints of other nations such as the US. Third, It should also be very cautious about letting other countries set New Zealand’s foreign policy.
His fourth point was to just be a little bit careful what we want to believe. There are many people who believe that because of the restrictions that the United States have put on China its technology has gone backwards. “If the United States thinks technology restriction is the thing that’s going to bring about the demise of China, I’ve got news for them. It ain’t working and it’s probably not going to work. So, again, just believe our own story of what we actually see.
His final point was New Zealand is a little country of 5 million people. “No one owes us a living. If you were lying in bed at night and you said to yourself, what is going to make the waka go faster here’s a clue. Hundreds of millions of consumers who are getting wealthier, who want to buy the things we produce, and that is called China.”
Disclosure: Fran O’Sullivan is a member of the China Council and attended the event where the Foreign Minister spoke on the record. These are her personal views.
