BEIJING: China’s embassy in New Zealand accused Wellington’s top spy of “spreading false information” on Thursday, following a warning from the intelligence head about the security concerns presented by Beijing’s increasing Pacific influence.
In a speech in Wellington last week, New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service Director-General Andrew Hampton said Pacific nations’ focus on economic and transnational crime issues had opened the door for China to sign strategic deals with them that linked “economic and security cooperation”.
The top spy’s allegations are “completely baseless, all fabrication,” according to a statement issued by the Chinese embassy in Wellington. It asked Hampton to quit “mirroring” China with “cold war thinking and zero-sum mentality”.
Beijing has made arrangements with a number of Pacific states in recent years, which has caused concern in New Zealand, which is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence cooperation alongside Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia.
Last week, Hampton stated that China sought to “create competing regional architectures and expand its influence with Pacific Island countries,” posing foreign meddling and espionage dangers.
The Cook Islands, a self-governing Pacific nation in free association with New Zealand, has been at the centre of recent tensions between China and New Zealand.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown visited China in February and signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. That infuriated Wellington, which protested about the lack of consultation and transparency around Brown’s visit.
According to the Chinese statement, all relevant cooperation documents have been made public, and there is no “secret agenda” in China’s relations with the Cook Islands.
The Chinese embassy in Wellington also handles diplomatic ties with the island states of Niue and the Cook Islands.