BAN ON HUAWEI SOURS CHINA-N.Z. TIES

After challenging two years of diplomatic ties, trade links seen as key to withstanding such episodes

Relations between China and New Zealand took another hit at the end of last month over Wellington’s ban on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, but sources in the Pacific nation say there has not been an increase in overt racism or economic turbulence – at least not yet.

The latest dispute – involving a fledgling 5G network, new cybertechnology and perceived national security concerns – came after a challenging two years of diplomatic ties that have been tested by allegations of economic espionage, questionable political donations and at least one instance of physical intimidation.

Even so, public reaction to the ban on Huawei has been mixed, with some New Zealand residents placing pragmatism over politics.

“Business shall just be business,” said Frank Su, a Chinese New Zealander. “Who has better IT solutions, who can offer better services, who can improve internet speed? Why stop dealing with [Huawei]?”

The latest controversy involves Spark New Zealand, a local telecoms operator, which was last week blocked by the government from using Huawei equipment for a new 5G network. Spark said it had been told that it was not allowed to use Huawei equipment because it would “raise significant national security risks”.

Australia this year also blocked Huawei from providing 5G technology on national security grounds.

New Zealand’s ban drew a quick reaction from China. Officials told the state-run Global Times the move would “only hurt [New Zealand’s] industry and consumers” and called for a “level playing field for Chinese companies”. New Zealand did not specify the extent of the security threat, saying only that there were risks with the use of the technology. By Thursday, Wellington had altered its original assessment, saying the ban was due to technical issues.

Some users who tried to submit comments about the Huawei ban on Chinese website Skykiwi.com received an error message that said the content of their comment was “illegal”. One of these users was Fergus Ryan, an analyst at ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre. Ryan submitted the exact text of a comment supporting the New Zealand government’s decision but received the same error message as the original user. Only when the comment was rewritten to not directly say “Chinese-made equipment is a threat” did it go through.

Some observers told This Week In Asia they felt caught in the turmoil of the US-China trade war.

“The issue with Huawei well demonstrates the challenge that New Zealand will be facing as it seeks to balance between two great powers in different policy areas,” said Marc Lanteigne, a senior lecturer in security studies at Massey University.

China is New Zealand’s top trading partner: New Zealand supplies 24 per cent of China’s foreign milk, and China is the largest foreign investor in its dairy sector. China is also New Zealand’s second-biggest visitor market, with the government forecasting that China will overtake Australia as its largest tourist market by 2024.

Despite recent diplomatic flare-ups, 2019 is officially the China-New Zealand Year of Tourism, an initiative announced during an official visit by Premier Li Keqiang last year.

These examples suggest that bilateral economic ties might be strong enough to withstand episodes like the Huawei ban.

“The damage that China can do to the New Zealand economy in aggregate is wildly exaggerated,” said Simon Chapple, director of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.

“However, certain sectors, such as tourism and export education, are vulnerable.”

Perhaps more importantly, New Zealand is a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, which includes Australia, Canada,

Who has better IT solutions, better services … Why stop dealing with [Huawei]? FRANK SU, A CHINESE NEW ZEALANDER

Britain and the US. In May, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service published a report labelling New Zealand “a soft underbelly through which to access Five Eyes intelligence”.

The New Zealand China Council, established in 2012 as part of Wellington’s “NZ Inc Strategy for China”, declined to comment on the Huawei issue.

The setback came amid an outcry over the alleged harassment of Anne-Marie Brady, a professor at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. Brady, a prominent China critic who wrote a paper called “Magic Weapons: China’s political influence activities under Xi Jinping”, has reported burglaries she claims were “Chinese government-connected”. Last month, her car was reportedly tampered with.

Keith Ng, a Wellington-based journalist, told This Week In Asia that even in the face of recent events such as the Brady episode, “there hasn’t been an increase in racism”.