The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation reported on July 30 that on July 29, during a general debate in the New Zealand parliament, New Zealand‘s foreign minister, Winston Peters, actually demanded that a Chinese-born member of parliament “go back to his own country.”
According to reports, the New Zealand MP who was verbally attacked by Peters was named Xu Nan, born in Tianjin, China, and immigrated to New Zealand with his family in 1994. At the time of the incident, the debate was discussing topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a Green Party MP, Xu Nan asked Peters a question: “Have you been vaccinated?” Peters‘s response was unexpectedly, “Go back to your country.”
Later on the 29th, Peters went even further, berating Xu Nan as an “arrogant fool.” He said: “He [Xu Nan] has only been here for 5 minutes, and he can‘t even speak the language here properly.”
Peters‘ remarks have raised strong doubts. The AFP reported that they were “racist remarks”. It is understood that this is not the first time that Peters and his “New Zealand First Party” have been criticized for racist remarks. Earlier this year, Peters‘ deputy Jones criticized New Zealand’s free trade agreement with India as potentially triggering a “butter chicken tsunami”. Last year, during a debate, Peters shouted at Mexican-born congressman Hernández to “send the Mexicans home”.
New Zealand Prime Minister Clarkson condemned Peters‘ remarks on the 30th. He issued a statement as a “National Party leader” saying that Peters‘ remarks were inappropriate. “Peters has long made inappropriate remarks to attract attention, with the aim of getting the media and other politicians to talk about him, rather than the problems facing New Zealanders. This is yet another example.”
Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a routine press conference on the 30th, “We have noticed that New Zealand‘s various people, including Prime Minister Clarkson, have already criticized the remarks of the relevant people. The Chinese side has consistently advocated respecting the development paths and institutional models freely chosen by the people of various countries, and opposing all forms of discrimination and prejudice. We hope that the relevant people from the new side will do more things that are beneficial to promoting the friendship between the two countries, and don‘t use China to speak out in domestic politics.” (Guo Xiaowei)