True colours

Winston Peters wants to halt what he calls New Zealand's immigration flood. He has been accused of xenophobia and has warned that his country is 'being dragged into the status of an Asian colony'. So it's not surprising his appointment as minister of foreign affairs was greeted with not only surprise but, in some quarters, outrage and warnings it would tarnish New Zealand's international image. But Mr Peters, the son of a Maori father and Scottish mother, has no qualms. 'It's going to work,' he said. He says his calls to restrict immigration won't be an issue when he meets regional leaders, starting with the annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) group in South Korea this week. 'There will be no fuss and bother anywhere in the western world, except in certain circles in New Zealand,' he said. 'Why? Because, as I have tried to point out, every other country in the western world and throughout Asia has the same policy that New Zealand First advocates, or 100 times more strict.' Mr Peters, leader of the minority New Zealand First Party, lost in his own electorate in September elections. But his party gained more than five per cent of the national vote, giving him and six other NZ First candidates seats in parliament. Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark needed the support of NZ First to get a majority in parliament and, as part of the deal, Mr Peters, 60, took the foreign affairs portfolio. He made the deal despite stating before the election he would not go into coalition with Labour or National. He says now that back then, he could not have known parliament would be hung. If his party had kept its pledge to sit on the cross-benches, he has no doubt New Zealand would have faced a snap election before Christmas - 'and I'd have got the blame for it', he said. But the controversial politician's appointment has been criticised in many circles. National Party MP Patsy Wong, who was born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong, is New Zealand's first and only Chinese MP. She said members of the Chinese community laughed when they heard the news and she feared for the country's standing internationally. 'I think the Labour government is seen to be totally opportunistic in striking that bargain,' she said. 'It would put a lot of burden on the ministry of foreign affairs to brief the new minister and I think it's not very complimentary to our country.' She said, however, that when New Zealand's Asian communities had 'calmed down' about Mr Peters' appointment, some believed it may not be all bad news. When he was deputy prime minister in a previous National Party government he had been complimentary about Asian ideals, calling on New Zealanders to learn from values such as family, hard work and educational achievement, she said. 'So I think that, possibly, he might lower the temperature of attack on Asian immigration.' Opposition leader Don Brash said the appointment sent a curious message to New Zealand's friends and allies. Mr Peters calls Mr Brash a hypocrite. He said that in July, Mr Brash suggested he should be foreign affairs minister and said the Nationals would have offered him 'anything I wanted' to sign up with them. Media commentators have also been critical. Mr Peters in turn is scathing about New Zealand journalists 'who have written in the foreign press, posing as the foreign press when they're not'. An hour-long interview, throughout which he referred to the South China Morning Post as the 'South China News', is one of few he has granted since taking office - his disaffection with his home media means he has spoken only to a few overseas correspondents. He has been accused of racism and anti-Asian scaremongering since he defected from the Nationals and formed NZ First in 1993. Although he has attacked the 'Asianising' of New Zealand, he has won a full review of New Zealand's immigration policy as part of his deal with Labour. Mr Peters said he had travelled in Asia during his time as deputy prime minister and treasurer from 1996 to 1998, and no politicians had raised his immigration policies. In fact, he said, they didn't understand what the fuss was about. 'My challenge to those people who make those comments is, you find me one Asian politician of any political persuasion in any Asian country all the way to Turkey who does not subscribe to the policy that I have advocated.' Mr Peters opposes a proposed New Zealand Free Trade Agreement with China. But he refused to discuss the issue with the South China Morning Post, saying it was part of the minister of trade's portfolio. Despite his critics' doubts, he said his education, political experience and contacts meant he was well equipped to handle foreign affairs. Mr Peters, who studied history, politics and law, said he would need to be updated on the latest developments when he travelled, but, 'as for a feel for the region, yes, I do have it'. 'I guess I've travelled pretty extensively, and I know a number of people in the region, personally,' he said. Asked to name some, he mentioned former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and his successor, whom he did not name, 'Filipinos I have met', and former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad and others in his cabinet. He has attended Apec treasury and finance ministers' meetings and has been to China a number of times. He said that historically, New Zealand had a long connection with Asia. He cited its involvement in reconstruction forces in Japan after the second world war, pre-war rugby teams to Japan and his country's trading relationship with Japan. Mr Peters represented New Zealand at the Hong Kong handover and at high-level talks in Beijing. He said his was the first signature in the guest book of former SAR chief executive Tung Chee-wah, whose name he was unable to remember, saying, 'his name just temporarily escapes me, he was put in as the head man in Hong Kong'. New Zealand was also 'engaged in the insurgency in Malaysia', had troops in Singapore for many years and was part of the Colombo plan to educate Asian students in New Zealand. He said his country had a long relationship with China and, in February 1998, was one of the first western countries to sign a visa programme for Chinese students. Although ridiculed when, in 2002, he said New Zealand's indigenous people were from China, he maintains this is the case. 'The DNA evidence is irrefutable,' he said. 'It was the subject of immense mirth among certain journalists in this country.' Mr Peters refused to discuss why he was given the foreign affairs post, but said: 'I could not have a choice of any cabinet position because certain positions meant you had to be in the cabinet.' Although the foreign minister has traditionally been the third most important minister in the New Zealand government, Mr Peters is not in the cabinet because his government is not, officially at least, in coalition with Labour - interpreted by some commentators as a downgrading of a key post. It also raises the issue of his willingness to take action on cabinet policies he played no part in deciding - and with which he may disagree. Before the election, Mr Peters said: 'You've got to say things, whether or not it's good for your political career. If it really has to be said you should say so.' And he has a history of doing just that. He has been in parliament 27 years and has twice been sacked from governments - first in 1991, over policy issues while minister of Maori affairs in a National government, then in 1998, terminating NZ First's coalition agreement with National. Mr Peters said NZ First had no agree-to-disagree arrangement in relation to foreign affairs, although it did on some other issues - police numbers, for instance. 'In foreign policy, my role is to represent the government's position as expressed by the will of parliament,' he said. Asked whether he would be bound by cabinet solidarity although he was not in cabinet, he said: 'In my portfolios, yes.' And he didn't anticipate any problems. 'Foreign affairs is to do with representing your country, not just a political party,' he said. 'That's the reason it fitted my view.' Mr Peters intends to work towards consensus and said he had studied 20 years of foreign policy positions and believed that goal was achievable. He found New Zealand had a long-running consensus on foreign policy, with the possible exception of the National Party and the minority ACT New Zealand. 'I have gone back, say, over the last 20 years of my career, and looked at Labour foreign policy and my own foreign policy prior to leaving the National Party and setting up New Zealand First, and there has barely been an issue of divergence.' In relation to Iraq and Afghanistan, New Zealand's approach to Asia, the Pacific and the EC, 'there's no great difference of opinion and my job is to ensure that none arises'. He sees his task as presenting what is good about New Zealand to the world - to lift its international image and make it more internationally relevant, based on its successes at home on issues such as environmental policies and racial conciliation. 'I'm there to win the world over to my country's cause. 'I'm a passionate New Zealander and want to portray my country in the best way I possibly can.'