Concern at Parliament over misleading Chinese translation

The Government will release the long-awaited Covid papers this month. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Parliament's Justice Select Committee was warned English language translations of Chinese (Mandarin) submissions were inaccurate.

The allegations were made last year, before the 2020 election, but Parliamentary rules prohibiting closed discussions from being published while a select committee inquiry was still under way have meant the concerns were suppressed until now.

The submissions were made as part of a regular inquiry into local body elections, which is conducted by the Justice Committee after each local election cycle.

This particular inquiry focused on foreign interference in elections in New Zealand. Some submitters to the committee were highly critical of the Chinese Communist Party, and its influence in New Zealand.

But MPs were warned some of those submissions did not present the full picture of what submitters were saying.

One source on the committee alleged that translations "minimised" Chinese language submissions.

Those submissions included allegations that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was attempting to influence local government in New Zealand - and put pressure on Chinese candidates who did not align with CCP politics.

The committee, in closed session, debated whether the misinterpretation was because of the quality of the interpreter, or whether it was because the translator was trying to minimise the submission.

One MP on the committee, who did not want to be named said the committee was divided on whether the translation was deliberately misleading.

"We weren't able to come to a conclusion as a committee whether the misinterpretation derived just because they [the interpreter] wasn't very good or whether the submitter was minimising or changing the tone of submitters' views to make them inaccurate," said the MP.

"The Clerk's office was clearly of the view the translation was poor - but we couldn't get to the bottom of whether it was inappropriate interference to minimise comments made by a submitter.

"But it highlighted the need of the Clerk's office to check the integrity and competence of interpreters," the MP said.

Parliamentary Service said, through a spokesperson, that translation issues were raised last year, but no decision was actually taken.

"Committee members discussed a comment on social media relating to the accuracy of the English-language interpretation of oral evidence given in Mandarin during a meeting of the Justice Committee," the spokesman said.

They said the committee "did not wish to take any particular action in response to the comments".

The inquiry's final report noted several submitters "were concerned about the influence of the Chinese Communist Party".

"One said that certain candidates in the 2019 local elections were supported by organisations that represent Chinese Government interests.

Other submitters suggested that the New Zealand Chinese community experienced social pressure from CCP-affiliated individuals, particularly in content presented in Chinese-language media".

The report recommended the Government align local election foreign donation rules with general election rules prohibiting foreign interference.

It also recommended increasing intelligence agency resources to monitor interference threats.