‘Textbook misinformation’: China rejects New Zealand security report accusations
Annual report says New Zealand faces rising threats of foreign interference and spying; accuses Beijing of being ‘most active’ player
China has rejected claims that it is a growing espionage threat to New Zealand, calling the suggestions in Wellington’s latest intelligence report “groundless” and “riddled with ideological bias”.
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service also called out China’s United Front Work Department for engaging in foreign interference to build influence abroad.
It said China was a particularly “assertive and powerful” actor in the region and had shown both a “willingness and capability” to undertake intelligence activity that targeted New Zealand’s national interests.
But the Chinese embassy in Wellington said the report was a “textbook example of misinformation” and suggested that it might itself be “the result of foreign interference”.