China upset at NZ

Stuff reports:

Chinese officials in Beijing and Wellington have warned New Zealand “all is not rosy” with its largest trading partner, heavily criticising New Zealand for creating “disinformation” with the United States.

The remarkable criticism from Beijing came after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and US President Joe Biden met on Wednesday morning (NZT) and issued a joint statement expressing “concern” that China might establish a military presence in the Pacific and listing “grave concerns” of rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

The statement also said New Zealand and the US would expand their defence co-operation as “the security environment in the Indo-Pacific evolves”.

China foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, at a press conference on Wednesday evening, spoke at length about the NZ-US statement, saying it “distorts and smears China’s normal co-operation with Pacific Island countries” and “deliberately hypes up” China’s internal issues.

This is inevitable. China bullies countries that offend it. This doesn’t mean we should not speak truthfully. Ardern was right to do so. What it means is we should be prepared for the consequences. It is almost inevitable that China will impose some non tariff sanctions against us in the next wee while, as they did against Australia. We need to be prepared for that.