Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has criticised China's approach to Hong Kong on the second anniversary of a heavy-handed security law.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
New Zealand and China have been taking verbal swipes at one another, with the Chinese Embassy today criticising Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's remarks about the country at the NATO world leaders summit.
It coincides with China's leader Xi Jinping visiting Hong Kong to mark a quarter century since Britain returned the city to China.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, it is President Xi's first trip out of mainland China in more than two years.
In a statement this afternoon, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta marked another anniversary for the city: two years since the introduction of the National Security Law.
"Aotearoa New Zealand remains concerned by the steady erosion of rights, freedoms, and autonomy that has occurred in Hong Kong as a result," she said.
The law imposed heavy jail terms for acts of secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces, and has resulted in at least 189 arrests, including high-profile activists and other China critics.
Its introduction followed thousands-strong protests over what residents saw as curtailment of their freedoms by mainland China, which had promised to maintain democratic systems and freedoms in the city.
Since then, Hong Kong has also experienced the closure of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper after 26 years, the removal of a statue commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre, and new electoral laws restricting voting rights to 'patriots' only.
"Since the NSL was enacted, we have witnessed the suppression of freedom of speech and assembly, the stifling of political opposition, and a significantly narrowed space for media and civil society organisations," Mahuta said.
"Aotearoa New Zealand calls on Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China to restore and respect the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong, as well as the high degree of autonomy guaranteed to Hong Kong until 2047 under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
"Protecting space for peaceful alternative views is the most effective way to ensure the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong. We urge China to act in accordance with international obligations to respect protected rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong."
Ardern's statements to NATO had targeted Russian disinformation and that country's war on Ukraine but also criticised China, which she said had become "more assertive and more willing to challenge international rules and norms".
"Here, we must respond to the actions we see. We must stand firm on the rules-based order, call for diplomatic engagement and speak out against human rights abuses at all times when and where we see them."
It won a rebuke from the Chinese Embassy in Wellington, which described the comments as "unhelpful, regrettable and wrong".
The Embassy said China was not building up militarily in the South Pacific, but was focusing on development, economic ties and helping with climate change.