The parliamentary attack was picked up in countless outlets, while China declared ‘a test of the country’s political culture and democratic values’.
Winston Peters has travelled the globe with energy and purpose across his term as foreign minister, but in recent hours he has been just about everywhere at the same time, all without leaving Wellington.
Piqued by an impromptu question about his vaccination status in the debating chamber on Wednesday, Peters let rip.
“I know you just came here five minutes ago. Go back to your own country,” Peters seethed at Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan, who has lived in New Zealand since the 90s. “That’s where they lie like a flatfish, but they don’t lie like that here, all right? This is called democracy. This is called democracy, unlike what you’re used to.”
“Winston Peters has a long track record of inappropriate attention-seeking comments designed to get the media and other politicians to talk about him instead of the issues Kiwis are facing. This is another example of that,” said the prime minister, Christopher Luxon. National’s campaign chair, Simeon Brown, went further, condemning the outburst as “racist”.
MPs from the Green and Labour parties called for Luxon to sack Peters from cabinet. There was some speculation that the New Zealand First leader was goading Luxon to do that. It wouldn’t be, as they say, his first rodeo.
The comments and the condemnation filled the halls of parliament and the media – on that, at least, Luxon was vindicated – but it was about to become something more: a diplomatic incident.
The Chinese embassy in Wellington issued a statement saying it had “lodged solemn representations with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade over the negative China-related remarks made by a certain politician in the New Zealand parliament”. Nothing “the equal and mutually beneficial relationship between China and New Zealand” it urged an approach “conducive to bilateral relations rather than the other way around” and noted the contribution of the Chinese community in New Zealand, calling on politicians to “create an open, inclusive and non-discriminatory environment for them to study, live and work”.
Peters was in no mood for conciliation, tweeting furiously at “pearl clutchers”, “faux outrage” and “communist shills”.
Two of the world’s big wire services were sharply on the story. In Reuters and AFP reports, of course, any delicate two-hat distinctions between Winston Peters the foreign minister and Winston Peters the party leader are immaterial. He is introduced as “New Zealand’s top diplomat” and “Foreign Minister Winston Peters”.
The wire reports have been republished in outlets including Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Jakarta Post, the Daily Star (Bangladesh), Dawn (Pakistan), France24, Hong Kong Free Press, Al-Jazeera, Internazionale (Italy), the Straits Times (Singapore), the Taipei Times, Japan Today, a host of local Australian titles and dozens of others around the world from Azerbaijan to South Africa.
Other titles assigned their own writers to report the incident. Those include the South China Morning Post, China Daily, Euronews, Russia Today, the Australian and, in the UK, the Independent.
An Instagram reel from Al-Jazeera showing the comments in parliament has at the time of writing ticked up more than 160,000 views, which may make it the most viewed bit of content on the platform out of New Zealand since that haka.
In China, Global Times picked up on the story, too, in an editorial deploring “a textbook racist attack”. Peters’ remarks “have given the world a glimpse of how concerning the behaviour is among certain political figures in a country that prides itself on being ‘democratic’, ‘diverse’ and ‘inclusive’”, said the state-controlled outlet.
It added: “Peters’ remarks were neither an accidental “slip of the tongue” nor an isolated case. This is not the first time Peters and his party have been embroiled in controversy over racist comments. From his deputy Shane Jones’ criticism that a free trade deal with India could risk a ‘butter chicken tsunami’, to the remark of ‘sending the Mexicans home’ directed at a Mexican-born MP, and now Peters’ personal attack on the Chinese-born lawmaker, a pattern of politicizing ethnicity and immigration issues has become increasingly evident.”
It concluded: “The incident has drawn criticism from across New Zealand’s political spectrum, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, showing that it has gone far beyond a routine partisan dispute and has become a test of the country’s political culture and democratic values. A truly confident democratic society does not need to prove its superiority by belittling ethnic minorities or stoking xenophobia.”
