Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses a banquet to welcome U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in China, in May. Four New Zealand members of parliament have been banned from visiting China after their recent visit to Taiwan. Photo by Chinese Foreign Ministry/UPI | License Photo
Four New Zealand lawmakers have been banned from visiting China for a year after a trip to Taiwan, a first for the country.
New Zealand members of parliament Maureen Pugh, Duncan Webb, Laura McClure and David Wilson, visited Taipei, Taiwan, for five days in May. The trip was to maintain the relationship between Taiwan and New Zealand.
New Zealanders were shocked at the ban, which they learned about on Thursday. Lawmakers have made many trips to Taiwan for years with no issues, a spokesperson for Winston Peters, New Zealand’s minister of foreign affairs, told The New York Times.
“In the context of that long history, the minister was surprised to learn that China has taken a decision to, for the first time, impose travel bans on New Zealand MPs as a result of travel to Taiwan,” the spokesperson said.
The Chinese embassy in New Zealand said Thursday, the BBC reported, that the ban is because of the members of parliament “disregarding China’s serious concerns” and visiting Taiwan as parliamentarians. It said the visit sent “wrong signals” to Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party and “Taiwan independence forces” and called it “interference in China’s internal affairs.”
China has said that if the MPs apologize, it will lift the ban.
McClure said the ban from China is “a type of foreign interference” and that she wouldn’t apologize for the visit, the BBC reported. She also told Radio New Zealand that the country’s MPs “have the right to travel freely around the globe.”
“That is part of living in a free democracy,” she said.
New Zealand acknowledges Beijing’s One China policy, but maintains economic ties with Taiwan. The spokesperson for Peters said that lawmakers’ visits to Taiwan are not inconsistent with the One China policy.
China has also sanctioned U.S. politicians for visits to Taipei.
It sanctioned then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. D-Calif., for visiting Taiwan in 2022. It then sanctioned Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, for his visit to Taiwan. China claimed the visit sent a “serious wrong signal to Taiwan independence separatist forces.”
